U.S., China plan new Biden-Xi talks as top officials meet in Beijing
Global News
China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held lengthy talks against the backdrop of sharp disagreements between the superpowers.
Top Chinese and U.S. officials discussed holding fresh talks between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in the near future, the two countries said on Wednesday during high-level meetings in Beijing.
The discussion occurred during lengthy talks between China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held against the backdrop of sharp disagreements between the superpowers and the 2024 U.S. election race to replace Biden.
Both sides also agreed to hold video calls between their military theater commanders who hold responsibility for hot spots in the Indo-Pacific region “at an appropriate time,” according to the Chinese readout from the meetings, a move that Washington hopes could prevent conflict in areas like the Taiwan Strait. The White House said the talks would happen in the “near future.”
“The key to the smooth development of China-U.S. interaction lies in treating each other as equals,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“The two sides held candid, substantive, and constructive discussions on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues,” the White House said.
The statements followed Sullivan’s second day of talks with Wang and other officials, aimed at calming tensions between the two superpowers ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
Meetings between the two sides will last until Thursday and are expected to cover a range of areas where the two countries are at odds, including trade, the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and Chinese territorial claims from Taiwan to the South China Sea.
Wang told Sullivan the U.S. should “stop arming Taiwan and support peaceful ‘reunification’ of China,” adding that “Taiwan belongs to China and that ‘Taiwan independence’ is the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
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