China and US to plan Biden-Xi call in coming weeks, White House says

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing and Washington will plan a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden in the coming weeks, the White House said Wednesday, after national security adviser Jake Sullivan met in Beijing with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi.

Sullivan’s first trip to China as national security adviser was aimed at keeping high-level communications open and stabilizing bilateral relations to avoid conflict.

The White House statement said both sides would keep lines of communication open, including planning a “leader-level call” in the coming weeks.

There was no indication that the two leaders might meet in person before Biden left the Oval Office.

The White House said the two sides also plan to hold a phone call with the military theater commander in the near future.

China has rapidly expanded its military and there are concerns that Taiwan and the South China Sea are becoming flashpoints.

Wang told Sullivan that Taiwan independence is the biggest threat to stability in the immediate region. He called on the US “to stop arming the island, but to support the peaceful unification of China,” according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Taiwan, an autonomous island democracy that split from authoritarian Communist China in 1949, has rejected Beijing’s demands to accept unification with the mainland through peace or force. The US is required by domestic law to provide the island with enough hardware and technology to deter invasion.

The White House statement said Sullivan “stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

Sullivan planned to meet Thursday morning with China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting, which has not yet been publicly announced.

Zhang has spoken in the past about Beijing’s determination to take control of Taiwan. At an international naval meeting earlier this year in northeast China, Zhang said China would retaliate forcefully if his interests were threatened.

He said China’s territorial sovereignty “does not bear any violation, and its fundamental interests cannot be challenged. We don’t cause trouble, but we’ll never flinch from a challenge. The Chinese military will resolutely defend the reunification and interests of the motherland.”

Beijing also warned Washington “not to support or allow the Philippines to violate” China’s rights and interests in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines faced the second Thomas Shoal and most recently the Sabina Shoal.

The US military has rejected China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea, saying this week it would be open to consultations on escorting Philippine ships in the disputed sea in the middle an increase in hostilities between Beijing and Manila on this issue.

The White House said Sullivan reaffirmed the US commitment to defend its allies in the Indo-Pacific and expressed concern about Beijing’s destabilizing actions against “lawful Philippine maritime operations” in the South China Sea.

The Philippines requested Association of Southeast Asian Nations to do more. The 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc includes the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have claims in the South China Sea that overlap with each other, as well as those of China and Taiwan.

The US has changed its policy with China from engagement to competition. The Biden administration has made it a priority to prevent competition from getting out of hand, while seeking to work with China on areas such as climate change, artificial intelligence and illegal drug enforcement.

John Podesta, the president’s senior adviser on international climate policy, will travel to China, and Sullivan and Wang discussed “next steps to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs” and “continuing the repatriation of undocumented migrants,” the White House said.

The US Border Patrol made 1,851 arrests of Chinese immigrants at the Mexican border in July, down from a December high of 5,951.

The two sides also agreed to hold a second round of dialogue on artificial intelligence, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Sullivan expressed continued concern about China’s trade policies and non-market economic practices, the White House said.

Wang called on the US to “stop suppressing China in the fields of trade, economy and technology,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.

By resorting to protectionism, the US would only “hurt global ecological development and affect global economic growth,” Wang told Sullivan.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.