WASHINGTON, May 11 (Portal) – President Joe Biden’s national security adviser met with China’s top diplomats this week and both sides recognized the need to move beyond an alleged spy balloon incident that had caused a hiatus in superpower relations , a senior US official said on Thursday.
The White House hopes eight-hour talks between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna on Wednesday and Thursday would pave the way for more communication between the world’s two largest economies, the official said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said the two had “frank, in-depth, substantive and constructive talks … on removing obstacles in China-US relations and stabilizing ties from deterioration.”
The US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said Sullivan and Wang did not discuss dates for a possible scheduled visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing, but said the White House expects the two sides to meet continue to engage months.
Biden attempted to have a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but the official had no information about the effort.
Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing in February after the US shot down a Chinese balloon that was flying over sensitive military sites, throwing the rivals into a diplomatic crisis.
When asked what was discussed about the incident, the official replied: “I think both sides have realized that this unfortunate incident has led to a little pause in engagement. We are now trying to go beyond that and restore a very normal, normal channel of communication.”
The official said the US side has made clear where it stands on the sovereign breach issue, but is trying “to look ahead from now on” and look for issues on which China and the US could potentially work together.
KEEP AN OPEN CHANNEL FOR COMMUNICATION
US-China relations are on a downward spiral, ranging from allegations of Chinese espionage and human rights abuses to US efforts to build military alliances to curb China’s ambitions in Taiwan and in the Pacific.
The official said both sides agreed to maintain the channel of communication between Sullivan and Wang, and that Sullivan stressed that Washington did not seek conflict or confrontation.
Sullivan raised concerns about American citizens being detained in China, stressing that it was a personal priority for Biden. He also raised concerns about the possibility of Chinese military aid to Russia in Ukraine.
A White House statement earlier said the talks should build on the Biden-Xi meeting in Indonesia in November.
The Vienna meeting came ahead of an expected Biden visit to Asia, which began with a G7 summit in Japan on May 19-21, which is expected to be about closer alignment of the group’s approach to China.
Blinken’s canceled trip was intended to help mend ties after an earlier rupture over a visit by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China considers its own.
The United States has expressed its willingness to postpone Blinken’s visit and to arrange further meetings at the highest level to prevent relations from descending into conflict.
Blinken met Wang Yi after the balloon incident at the Munich Security Conference, but that didn’t ease tensions.
Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia in the Obama administration, said communication between the US national security adviser and China’s top foreign minister has been historically important and today “appears to be practically the only significant channel still functioning.”
He said the observed avoidance of harmful public strife in the past is encouraging but does not mean that relations are necessarily on the mend.
“Both sides send strong — sometimes angry — messages,” he said, “but these meetings offer an opportunity for them to find common ground that can help stabilize a relationship that is dangerously unstable.”
Reporting by Susan Heavey; Edited by Paul Grant
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