National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg for four and a half hours on Monday and raised concerns about what one official described as Beijing’s “aggressive action” on Taiwan.
The meeting came amid deteriorating relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Over the weekend, China’s defense minister said the country is expanding its nuclear arsenal and will fight to prevent Taiwan from gaining independence.
A senior Biden administration official called the meeting “sincere, substantial and productive.”
But the official said Sullivan warned China about its stance on Taiwan.
“The national security adviser reiterated our long-standing one-China policy and our principles, positions and concerns about Beijing’s … aggressive actions across the Taiwan Strait,” they said.
The official also said that Sullivan also stressed the need for open communication between the two nuclear powers, raising concerns that Beijing had vetoed a push to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg for four and a half hours on Monday and raised concerns about what one official described as Beijing’s “aggressive action” on Taiwan.
Tensions have risen over the past year as China ramped up its rhetoric towards Taiwan and increased military flights around the autonomous island
The meeting came shortly after Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said China would fight to prevent Taiwan from declaring its independence
“We will fight at all costs and we will fight to the end. This is the only choice for China,” he said at the Shangri-La Dialogue Security Summit in Singapore.
Wei also defended his country’s expanding nuclear arsenal.
“China is developing nuclear capabilities at a moderate and reasonable level,” he said.
“That means we can protect the security of our nation so that we can avoid the catastrophe of war, especially the catastrophe of nuclear war.”
Wei also urged Washington to “stop slandering and containing China…stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and harming China’s interests.”
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have increased this year.
In May, President Joe Biden said the US would respond militarily if China invaded the island of Taiwan. It was the third time he took that position, despite aid workers trying to push them back.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second from right, along with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, right, speaks with Chinese Communist Party foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and China’s State Councilor Wang Yi during the opening session of the US-China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, March 18, 2021
A corvette is deployed to Taiwan in January 2022 during a readiness improvement exercise amid escalating Taiwan-China tensions
US governments have long pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity,” refusing to say how far they would go in supporting Taiwan while making it clear that they would help the island defend itself.
China has increased the number of military flights patrolling near Taiwan’s airspace.
Beijing claims the autonomous island for itself and has announced that it will take it by force if necessary.
Over the weekend, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called China’s stance “provocative” and “destabilizing”.
He said there had been an “alarming” rise in the number of unsafe and unprofessional encounters between Chinese planes and ships with those of other countries.
A Chinese warplane dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in the South China Sea region in May, and the Canadian military has accused Chinese warplanes of harassing their patrol planes while monitoring North Korean sanctions evasion.
Chinese ally North Korea conducted a series of missile tests in 2022 despite sanctions
At Monday’s meeting, Sullivan also discussed North Korea with his counterpart.
Washington has warned that North Korea’s first nuclear test since 2017 could come at any moment.
Last month, China vetoed a US-led push at the United Nations for new sanctions on Pyongyang.
“Jake raised particular concerns about the veto, which comes after a significant series of ballistic missile launches in violation of previous UN Security Council resolutions and preparations… for possible nuclear tests,” the official said.
“Each side laid out their positions and how we view the situation, and certainly Jake has made it very clear that we believe this is an area where the United States and China should be able to work together.”