2023-09-17 18:06:35
Painted
Washington and Beijing continue the “thaw”
Joe Biden’s national security adviser met with the head of Chinese diplomacy on Saturday and Sunday, in a context which nevertheless remains tense between the two great powers.
PublishedSeptember 17, 2023, 8:06 p.m.
Jake Sullivan had frank discussions with Wang Yi, according to the White House.
REUTERS
High-level meeting between Washington and Beijing this weekend in Malta. Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met there with the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, in a context which nevertheless remains tense between the two great powers. “The two sides had frank, substantive and constructive discussions,” the White House said in a statement. The meeting was also confirmed by Maltese authorities.
A senior official of the American executive, who requested anonymity, specified that the meeting had lasted a total of twelve hours over two days, and recalled that the last meeting of this type, and at this level, dates back to the month of last May. It was around the same time, in the spring, that the American president predicted a “thaw” in the Sino-American relationship, which had soured in February following the flight over the United States by a Chinese balloon.
During his exchange with the Chinese minister, Jake Sullivan “emphasized that the United States and China were engaged in competition, but that the United States was not seeking conflict or confrontation,” she added during an exchange with the press, using a formulation that has become ritual from the Biden administration. “Wang Yi emphasized that the Taiwan question was the first red line not to be crossed in Sino-American relations,” assured Beijing for its part.
Military communications
The White House national security adviser, according to the American official, reiterated that the United States did not “support” the independence of the island – which China claims as an integral part of its territory – but that they did not want a “unilateral change in the status quo” either from the Taiwanese or the Chinese.
In this discussion in Malta, China and the United States also “committed to carrying out consultations” in certain areas, in particular regarding “developments in politics and security in the Asia-Pacific”, according to the White House source.
Communications between military officials from the two countries, which Beijing had cut off in August 2022 following a visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the American House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, have not however resumed. The Americans, however, have “weak and limited indications” showing that the Chinese “might be interested” in a possible reestablishment of this type of contact, said the senior official.
Balloons of Discord Episode
The United States and China have renewed dialogue in recent months with a succession of visits by senior American officials to Beijing, including the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken, and other high-level meetings are under discussion, according to the high White House official. However, she did not comment on speculation regarding a tête-à-tête between Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the next APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in mid-November. San Francisco (California).
In February, tensions between China and the United States rose with the flight over American territory by Chinese balloons, a espionage operation according to Washington. Bilateral relations still remain tense, with trade disputes, Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and the issue of the self-governing democratic island of Taiwan remaining stumbling blocks.
Beijing does not view very favorably the very active diplomacy of the United States in Asia, illustrated by a recent strengthening of the American-Vietnamese relationship for example, nor Joe Biden’s repeated comments on the economic and demographic weaknesses of the Asian giant.
(AFP)Show comments
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