Stay up to date with free updates
Simply sign up for the myFT digest on US-China relations – straight to your inbox.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan will hold a private meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the coming days as the pair resume communications in a back channel crucial to stabilizing relations.
Sullivan will meet Wang in Thailand, in their first meeting since President Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November, according to two people familiar with the plan.
The White House declined to comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment.
Last year, U.S. and Chinese officials resumed high-level talks aimed at easing tensions after disagreements over issues such as Taiwan's status and a suspected Chinese spy balloon floating over the U.S. sent relations to their lowest point since Establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979.
But unlike the pre-announced meetings between U.S. Cabinet secretaries and their Chinese counterparts, Sullivan and Wang held two secret meetings – in Vienna and Malta – that paved the way for a meeting between Biden and Xi in November.
U.S. officials say the Sullivan-Wang channel was effective because the meetings took place privately and without media attention.
The upcoming meeting comes as Washington presses Beijing to press Tehran to rein in Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have attacked ships in the Red Sea in recent months.
Sullivan recently raised the issue in Washington with Liu Jianchao, the head of the Communist Party's international department, who some believe will succeed Wang as foreign minister.
Since July, after China removed Qin Gang as foreign minister, Wang has served as both China's top foreign policy official and in the less influential role of foreign minister.
The meeting between Sullivan and Wang comes a month after Lai Ching-te won Taiwan's presidential election. China views Lai, who will be sworn in in May, as a dangerous separatist.
Taiwan remains one of the most contentious issues between the countries. The US has expressed concern about aggressive Chinese military activities across the country. She is also closely watching how China handles the situation as Lai prepares for his inauguration.
China, which considers Taiwan its territory, accuses the United States of interfering in its internal affairs with its actions against the island, which include selling defensive weapons.
Since the meeting between Biden and Xi, relations between Washington and Beijing have shown signs of stabilization. In one example, Adm. John Aquilino, chief of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said last month that China had not conducted any dangerous interception attacks on U.S. aircraft since the summit.
Recommended
In October, the Pentagon accused China of carrying out 180 “risky and coercive” interceptions over the past two years, in which Chinese warplanes flew dangerously close to US planes. It said China had carried out another 100 strikes against aircraft belonging to US allies.
China criticizes the US for flying surveillance planes near its coast even though the spy planes operate in international airspace.
The US and China are expected to hold further high-level meetings this year. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to China after her first visit to Beijing in that role last year. People familiar with the situation said Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also discussing a possible trip, but there are no specific details at this time.