Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, was greeted at Beijing airport by Yang Tao, head of the North America and Oceania department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and the US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.
Sullivan has been Biden’s go-to person for often unannounced talks with the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official to try to manage growing differences between Washington and Beijing.
The purpose of his visit, which will last until Thursday, is limited: to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for most of the year in 2022-23 and only recovered over several months.
No major announcements are expected, though Sullivan’s meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.
It is important for the United States and China to avoid any crisis in the remaining months of the Biden administration as it could set the tone for U.S.-China relations in the next administration, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“The purpose of this visit is not to achieve new breakthroughs or progress, but to continue the stable momentum of China-US relations from last year through strategic communication and to avoid new crises in the coming months,” he said.
Sullivan will hold talks with Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China.
Wang is also foreign minister. He had initially resigned when he took office in the party, a more senior position, but returned about seven months later in July 2023 after his successor was dismissed for reasons that have not been made public.
The Biden administration has taken a hard line toward China, viewing it as a strategic competitor, restricting its companies’ access to advanced technology and confronting the rising power as it seeks to exert influence over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Already frosty relations froze completely after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a senior U.S. lawmaker, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Hopes of restoring ties were dashed the following February when a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States before being shot down by the U.S. military.
At a meeting between Sullivan and Wang in Vienna in May 2023, the two countries began a delicate process of resetting relations. They have since met twice more in a third country, Malta and Thailand. This week will mark their first talks in Beijing.
China’s Foreign Ministry said this week that relations with the United States remain at “a critical juncture.” It said the two sides are talking about climate and other issues, but accused the United States of continuing to restrict and repress China.
Canada announced Monday that it will match the U.S.’s 100% import tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, after being encouraged to do so by Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet ministers the day before.
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