Joe Biden, Xi Jinping plan to hold talks soon, says White House

United States and China are planning a phone call between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping “in the coming weeks”, the White House said on Thursday.

The call, likely to be held prior to the US presidential elections this November, was discussed between Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their two-day meeting in Yanqi Lake, Beijing on August 27-28.

The White House also said the two countries will also aim to organize a phone conversation between military theatre commanders “in the near future.”

The two leaders had met in California in November 2023 termed as the Woodside Summit.

During Sullivan and Wang’s meeting, the two sides held candid, substantive, and constructive discussions on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues.

Sullivan and Wang noted the importance of the strategic channel of communication over the past 18 months and committed to maintaining high-level diplomacy and working level consultations on an ongoing basis, the White House said.

The two also discussed progress and next steps on implementation of the Woodside Summit commitments, including counternarcotics, military-to-military communications, and Artificial Intelligence safety and risk.

The top US and Chinese diplomats discussed next steps to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs, continue repatriation of undocumented migrants, and law enforcement cooperation.

They also underscored the importance of concrete steps to tackle the climate crisis and welcomed further discussions during Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta’s upcoming travel to China.

Sullivan emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced US technologies from being used to undermine its national security, without unduly limiting trade or investment.

The US National Security Advisor in his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister also raised continued concerns about China’s unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices.

Sullivan reiterated that it remains a top priority to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans in China. He also underscored the long-standing US commitment to universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, the White House stated.

Sullivan’s visit was the fifth time that the US NSA and Wang were holding strategic talks since May 2023 and the first time US National Security Advisor to visit China in eight years.

Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and emphasized concerns about Chinese support for Russia’s defence industrial base and its impact on European and transatlantic security.

Sullivan reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies and expressed concern about Chinese destabilizing actions against “lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea.”

The two sides also discussed shared concerns about the North Korea, Myanmar and West Asia.

Meanwhile, Sullivan on August 29 met with General Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission in Beijing and stressed that both countries have a responsibility to prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation, according to a read out from White House.

The two sides reaffirmed the importance of regular military-to-military communications as part of efforts to maintain high-level diplomacy and open lines of communication, as directed by Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the November 2023 Woodside Summit.

Both Sullivan and Zhang recognized the progress in sustained, regular military-military communications over the past ten months and planned to hold a theatre commander telephone call in the near future, the White House said.

Sullivan also raised the importance of cross-Strait peace and stability, the US commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, concerns about Chinese support for Russia’s defence industrial base, the need to avoid miscalculation and escalation in cyber space, and ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.