The US president’s national security adviser met with China’s foreign minister, in an effort to “responsibly maintain the relationship” at a time of tension and mutual mistrust, Washington announced this Sunday.
The meeting, over the past two days, took place on the island of Malta, the White House revealed in a statement, stating that Jake Sullivan, advisor to President Joe Biden, and Chinese Minister Wang Yi held “frank, substantive and constructive”. , at a time when the world’s two largest economies try to “keep lines of communication open.”
Sullivan and Wang discussed the relationship between the two countries, global and regional security issues, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Taiwan Strait issue, he detailed.
“The United States noted the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The two sides committed to maintaining this strategic channel of communication and to seeking additional high-level engagement and consultation in key areas between the United States and the People’s Republic China in the coming months,” according to the statement.
Washington and Beijing are competitors, despite a broad trade partnership, and the relationship is strained with episodes such as the downing, by US forces, of a “Chinese spy balloon” earlier this year, the intrusion of the Chinese government in emails from the US Secretary of Commerce, or Washington’s restriction on the export of advanced computer chips to China.
President Joe Biden recently spoke with Chinese Premier Li Qiang when they were in India at the Group of 20 summit and said they talked about “stability” and it was “not confrontational at all.”
Biden has worked to strengthen relations with Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and other countries to counter China’s influence in the Pacific region.
Speaking to the press last Sunday, Biden said that these alliances are not about a “cold war” with China.
“It’s not about containing China,” he said, “it’s about having a stable foundation” for global economic growth.
Sullivan also met with Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela and discussed the Mediterranean region’s role in helping to provide “global peace and security,” according to a Maltese government statement.
Source: TSF
