By Trevor Hunnicutt
BEIJING (Reuters) -U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top military officials on Thursday as he wrapped up three days of talks in Beijing intended to ease simmering tensions between the two superpowers.
Sullivan was expected to push for enhanced working-level military to military communications in his session with General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s paramount military body, the Central Military Commission, White House officials said.
It is the first meeting between Zhang and a Biden administration official, and the first between a senior U.S. official and a vice chair of the commission since 2018.
“Your request for having this meeting with me demonstrates the value the U.S. government puts on military security and our military-to-military relationship,” Zhang said as the pair met at the Ba Yi Building – the headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army.
“I know it is rare that we have the opportunity to have this kind of exchange and given the state of the world and the need for us to responsibly manage U.S.-China relations, I think it’s a very important meeting,” Sullivan replied.
Zhang is believed to be close to Xi and has survived turmoil in the country’s military ranks. Western and Asian diplomats say he is more powerful than China’s defence minister, who more frequently meets foreign officials.
Sullivan will also talk further with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday, seeking to calm tensions ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
With their teams gathering behind closed doors at a lush resort on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, items on the agenda are likely to include contrasting views over the Middle East and Ukraine, Chinese territorial claims from Taiwan to the South China Sea and trade.
In lengthy meetings on Wednesday, the pair discussed the prospect of fresh talks soon between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping as well as possible communications between theatre-level military commands – a long-sought demand from Washington.
“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.
In the final months of his presidency, Biden has pushed direct diplomacy to influence Xi and keep those tensions at bay; U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in November’s election, would likely pursue a similar strategy.
However, many analysts aligned with former President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump see that approach as too soft in the face of China’s increasingly assertive foreign policy.
The U.S. also wants China to take more action at home to prevent the development of chemicals that can be made into fentanyl, the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses, and reach an understanding about safety standards for artificial intelligence.
Beijing plans to express its disapproval over U.S. tariffs on a range of manufactured goods and export controls targeting Chinese chip makers, and talk about its claims of sovereignty over democratically ruled Taiwan.
