US, Chinese officials meet in Vienna in bid to break the ice

Official accounts of the meeting outline strains between Washington and Beijing.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s talks with his Chinese counterpart included discussions of Taiwan and the war in Ukraine. Picture: AFP

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held talks this week with his Chinese counterpart in Vienna, as Washington and Beijing try to reset high-level contacts and keep relations from further spiralling downward.

Terse official accounts of the meeting on Wednesday and Thursday between Mr Sullivan and Wang Yi, China’s top foreign affairs official, hinted at the strains between Washington and Beijing and the struggles both sides are having in steadying ties. Topics discussed included the war in Ukraine and Taiwan – issues at the centre of tensions for both governments.

“This meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and ­responsibly manage competition,” the White House said. Chinese state news agency Xinhua said the talks aimed to “remove obstacles to promoting Sino-US relations, stop the fall and stabilise them”.

The meeting was the second time this week senior officials held talks, and the contacts follow a rancorous few months in relations after the US shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, warned Beijing against arming Russia in the Ukraine war and allowed Taiwan’s President to stop off in the US.

In the intervening weeks, Beijing cold-shouldered Biden ­administration efforts to restart contacts, rebuffing appeals for a phone call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. It accused the US of containment, amped up a message campaign to portray America as global provocateur and began a diplomatic outreach to Europe to try to split the Western alliance.

Despite the Sullivan-Wang meeting and other tentative signs of a thaw, Beijing is holding out rescheduling a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, after he cancelled a trip over the balloon.

China’s Defence Ministry also continues to stiff-arm Pentagon requests for a meeting between Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfu, during an annual security conference in Singapore next month. One concern from Beijing is that General Li remains under US sanctions levied when he ran the People’s Liberation Army’s ­armaments department in 2018 and purchased Su-35 combat aircraft and equipment for S-400 surface-to-air missile systems from Russia. Those sanctions, which bar General Li from US property and financial transfers under US jurisdiction, wouldn’t affect a meeting in a third ­country.

Beijing has in general declined recurring US requests for phone calls, meetings and other communication channels between defence officials. A chief objective for Washington is avoiding accidents as the US and Chinese militaries operate near each other around Taiwan, in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

Mr Austin reiterated that concern on Thursday and said he had reached out to General Li, “sent him a letter and offered to talk as well”. “When you have two countries with this kind of capability, and we’re operating globally, I think we have to have the ability to manage potential crises,” he said while testifying before a Senate committee. “I think that we need to open that door and continue to engage each other.”

As with this week’s meeting in Vienna, the US has previously dispatched Mr Sullivan to third countries to meet his Chinese counterpart during tense ­periods in US-China ties. The White House account of the meeting said, “The two sides agreed to maintain this important strategic channel of communication to advance these objectives.”

Aside from Mr Blinken, both governments have discussed Beijing visits by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Resuming regular, high-level exchanges was agreed to by Mr Biden and Mr Xi last November after such contacts, once routine, dwindled during the pandemic and over disagreements on trade, human rights and Taiwan.

Earlier this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US ambassador Nicholas Burns in Beijing. Mr Qin delivered a stern message over Taiwan. The meeting was a rare interaction for the veteran US diplomat, since he took up his post over a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal