Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden, will visit China next week in a fresh effort to address the tensions between the two nations, according to The Economic Times.
Sullivan is expected to depart at the beginning of the week for his first multi-day visit since 2016, during which he is likely to meet several high-ranking Chinese officials. A senior administration official stated that the trip will take place from August 27 to 29, during which the advisor will hold a meeting with the country’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
In recent years, Sullivan and Wang have arranged meetings to occur regularly every six months to ensure that communication channels between two countries remain open. They have met four times in the last eighteen months: once in Washington, and on other occasions in Vienna, Malta, Bangkok, and Zurich.
The visit will take place a few months ahead of the US elections in November. Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris will continue Joe Biden’s approach of seeking dialogue with China while applying pressure if she wins. Republican Donald Trump, on the other hand, has vowed, at least rhetorically, to take a tougher stance as some of his aides see a long-term global standoff with China.
Sources have indicated that the White House does not particularly anticipate any major breakthroughs during this trip, but they noted that Sullivan will restate US concerns regarding China’s support for Russia in its extensive expansion of the defence industry following the beginning of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in 2022. Beijing counters that, unlike the United States, it does not directly supply arms to either party involved.
In addition, Sullivan will discuss issues concerning North Korea and the Middle East with Wang. China has been critical of US support for Israel, while the United States has sought to challenge Beijing’s assertions by urging it to leverage its relationships to restrain Iran.
The last time Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in person was during the APEC summit in San Francisco in November 2023. They also had the phone conversation in April that lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. During the call, Biden stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and voiced concerns about China’s backing of the Russian defence sector, according to the White House.
The modern relationship between the US and China began when Henry Kissinger, then National Security Advisor to Richard Nixon, secretly visited Beijing in 1971 to lay the groundwork for normalising relations with the communist state. Historically, China has sought to work with US National Security Advisors, viewing them as decision-makers close to the president who can negotiate away from the media’s gaze.
