US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The parties, among other things, discussed Russia's war against Ukraine and the situation in the South China Sea, UNN reports with reference to the White House.
"The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to maintain channels of communication and responsible management of the relationship between the United States and China. The two sides discussed the continued implementation of commitments... including on counter-narcotics, military-to-military communications, security, and AI risks. They also discussed the Strait, Russia's war against Ukraine, and the South China Sea," the statement said.
According to the White House, the two sides welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication, including the scheduling of a call between President Biden and President Xi in the coming weeks.
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According to the Voice of America, Sullivan, the first US national security adviser to visit China since 2016, met with the Chinese leader at the end of three days of talks in Beijing, during which he also met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other senior officials.
During a meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday, he said President Biden "looks forward to speaking with you again in the coming weeks.
"President Biden has a responsibility to responsibly manage this important relationship to ensure that competition does not escalate into conflict or confrontation, and to work together where our interests align," he said.
Chinese state media reported that Xi told Sullivan that despite the "great changes," China and the United States can still have a good relationship. "China's commitment to the goal of stable, healthy and sustainable development of Sino-US relations has not changed," Xi said. "We hope that the United States will work with China to meet each other halfway.
At the same time, a senior Biden administration official said that the United States is pushing China to overcome its longstanding resistance to nuclear weapons negotiations, seeing a "limited opportunity" for early bilateral talks on the states' approach to this issue.
"They have expressed some willingness to start outlining the boundaries of arms control, but they are not very committed to it... So I would say that in 2024 the conversation is a little more mature than in 2022. But we still have a long way to go," the unnamed official said.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Defense estimated that Beijing has 500 operational nuclear warheads and is likely to deploy more than 1,000 by 2030. The United States and Russia have 1,770 and 1,710 operational warheads, respectively. The Pentagon has said that by 2030, most of Beijing's weapons are likely to be at a higher level of readiness.