Xi Jinping has spoken with the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in a surprise meeting during the senior Biden aide’s three-day visit to Beijing.
The meeting, reported by Chinese state media on Thursday afternoon, came after several days of talks between Sullivan and senior Communist party officials including the foreign minister, Wang Yi, and a vice-chair of the central military commission believed to have the ear of Xi.
It was Sullivan’s first visit to Beijing as national security adviser, amid efforts to ease tensions in what US officials described as an “intensely competitive relationship”.
According to Chinese state media, Xi told Sullivan in the Great Hall of the People that he hoped the US could see China’s development in a positive light and would work with China “to find a right way for two major countries to get along with each other”.
“As two major countries, China and the United States should be responsible for history, for the people and for the world, and should be a source of stability for world peace and a propeller for common development,” he was quoted as saying.
Sullivan reportedly told Xi that Joe Biden was committed to managing the relationship to avoid conflict and “looks forward to engaging with you in coming weeks”.
Earlier on Thursday it was revealed that the two sides had agreed to plan a call between Xi and Biden. There are no known plans for the two leaders to meet again in person before the US election in November.
Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, said: “Biden has reason to want to leave the world’s most important bilateral relations on a good footing on his way out to cement for legacy. China has incentive to show a goodwill gesture towards the outgoing Biden administration in its closing days. In the hope of locking in a more conciliatory precedent, this can then constrain options for the next US administration.”
The tone of Xi’s meeting was markedly conciliatory after days of meetings between Sullivan and other officials in which, while they were described as substantive and productive, there were strong words traded over several intractable issues.
On Thursday Sullivan met Gen Zhang Youxia, the vice-chair of China’s Central Military Commission. Zhang is the highest-ranking military official to have met the Biden administration. Sullivan described the meeting as a “rare” event and emphasised that both countries had a responsibility to prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation.
“Given the state of the world and the need for us to responsibly manage US-China relations, I think it’s a very important meeting,” Sullivan said.
The meeting produced an agreement for bilateral military talks at the theatre command level “in the near future”, but Zhang accused the US of “collusion” with Taiwan.
Zhang reportedly told Sullivan that promoting the “reunification” of Taiwan with the mainland was “the mission and responsibility” of the military. According to a White House readout, Sullivan emphasised the need for peace in the Taiwan strait and for freedom of navigation by foreign nations to be maintained.
Wang, the foreign minister, had also told Sullivan that Taiwan’s independence posed the greatest threat to stability in the immediate region, according to a Chinese statement. He demanded that the US “stop arming the island but support China’s peaceful unification”.
Sullivan, in turn, cautioned against the continuing military and economic coercion of Taiwan. He also expressed concern over China’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base, and its “destabilising” actions in the South China Sea in disputes with the Philippines, and raised the recent incursion by a Chinese warplane into Japan’s airspace.
Tense words had been expected before the meetings. On Sunday China’s foreign ministry published a lengthy statement on Beijing’s concerns and grievances with the US. Beijing considers Taiwan to be a Chinese province and has vowed to annex it. The US does not support Taiwan independence but facilitates weapons sales to its military for self-defence under statutory obligations, which angers Beijing.
“The Taiwan question is the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Also before the meeting, a US state department official said the continuing communication was important but did not signify a change in approach to “an intensely competitive relationship”.