US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi held talks in Vienna in an effort to stabilize relations between the two countries, which have reached their lowest point since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1979.
The White House said they held two days of “frank, substantive, and constructive” discussions on issues including US-China relations, global security issues, and Russia’s wars against Ukraine and Taiwan.
“The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these goals, based on the engagement between President Joe Biden and President Xi in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022,” the White House said.
A senior administration official said Wang and Sullivan met for more than eight hours over the two days, and described the talks as “frank, substantive and constructive.” Sullivan raised US concerns about the possibility of China providing lethal aid to Russia and focused on how to manage tensions over Taiwan.
The official said the US is looking to stir up past tensions over a Chinese spy balloon, which prompted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing. The official said the United States expected more interactions with Chinese officials in the coming months.
In Bali, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, the two leaders agreed they needed to lay a “floor” in the framework of the relationship and to ensure that power competition does not “veer into conflict”, particularly as tensions persist over Taiwan.
Early efforts to initiate high-level dialogue in the aftermath of the Bali meeting were derailed after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over North America before being shot down by the United States off the coast of South Carolina in early February. Blinken canceled a planned visit to China because of the episode.
Blinken met Wang at the Munich Security Conference in February, but it was a tense and unproductive meeting.
He is now trying to reschedule his visit to China, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are also trying to arrange trips to Beijing. But the two sides failed to come to an agreement, unless Sullivan negotiated with Wang in Vienna.
The Financial Times reported last month that China was reluctant to agree to a visit from Blinken because it was concerned that the FBI intended to release a report on the Chinese balloon after its analysis of the wreckage recovered off the coast of South Carolina.
The Financial Times reported Thursday that Beijing has told Washington it is unwilling to schedule a meeting between Li Shangfu, its defense minister, and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin when the two officials attend the Shangri-La security dialogue forum in Singapore in June. China wants the US to lift the sanctions imposed on Li in 2018 as a precondition for any meeting.
The United States informed Beijing that the restrictions imposed in connection with China’s purchase of Russian fighter jets and missiles, did not preclude holding a meeting in a third country. But Beijing believes it would be inappropriate to agree to the talks while its defense minister remains under sanctions. Several people familiar with the controversy in the Biden administration said there was no intention of lifting Trump-era restrictions on Lee.
Biden is also trying to schedule a call with Xi to try to break the deadlock. In the first two years of the administration, Sullivan met with his then counterpart, Yang Jiechi, on several occasions in third countries, for talks that often paved the way for a video call, meeting or personal meeting with the leaders.
In another sign that relations may improve marginally, Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang this week met US Ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing. US Trade Representative Catherine Tai is also expected to meet Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao at an APEC trade meeting in Detroit this month.
Several people familiar with the situation said that Xie Feng, the next Chinese ambassador to the United States, would arrive soon, possibly this month. This position remained vacant for several months after his predecessor, Chen, left Washington to become China’s foreign minister.
