Top Biden adviser in Beijing as China faces off against US allies
Al Jazeera
The White House aide’s visit comes amid China’s tensions with Japan and the Philippines over the South China Sea.
The national security adviser of the United States, Jake Sullivan, has met China’s top diplomat Wang Yi as Beijing finds itself embroiled in security rows with key US allies.
Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese military aircraft’s incursion into its airspace on Monday with a military spy plane.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the airspace breach – the first by a military aircraft – was “not only a serious violation of Japan’s sovereignty but it also threatens our security”.
Meanwhile, the Philippine defence chief on Tuesday accused China of being the “biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia following a week of confrontations between the two countries’ ships near a flashpoint disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Sullivan’s plane landed at Beijing’s Capital airport just before 2pm (06:00 GMT). He was welcomed on the tarmac by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Yang Tao.
