The US National Security Advisor and General Zhang Youxia clash over Taiwan but agree to military talks to ease tensions.
The US national security adviser held wide-ranging talks with a senior Chinese military official in Beijing, concluding a three-day trip aimed at strengthening communication between the superpowers on a range of issues.
Jake Sullivan met with General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Thursday as China is embroiled in security disputes with its U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines.
The NSA addressed issues such as “stability” in the Taiwan Strait, the “US commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” China’s support for “Russia’s defense industrial base” and ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, a White House statement said.
Regarding Taiwan, Zhang warned that the status of the self-governing island was “the first red line that must not be crossed in Sino-US relations.”
Taiwan’s independence and “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait are “incompatible,” he said, according to a statement from the Chinese Defense Ministry.
“China calls on the United States to end its military cooperation with Taiwan, stop arming Taiwan and stop spreading false representations about Taiwan,” Zhang added.
Before the talks, Zhang praised the US for the value it places on “military security and our military-to-military relations.”
“It is rare that we have the opportunity for such an exchange,” Sullivan Zhang replied.
The two officials agreed that there would be more direct military talks between the commanders in the future.
Reducing tensions
Sullivan also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, who said: “China’s commitment to the goal of stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations has not changed,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“We hope the United States will work with China to meet each other halfway,” Xi said.
On Wednesday, Sullivan held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, reportedly seeking to ease tensions between the two countries ahead of the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Wang and Sullivan discussed the prospect of early talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi, covering a wide-ranging agenda that included differing views on trade, the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as Chinese territorial claims from Taiwan to the South China Sea.
Several countries in the region have competing territorial claims to the waters of the South China Sea. However, China claims almost the entire area.
The White House said Sullivan “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending our Indo-Pacific allies,” citing in particular China’s “destabilizing actions against legitimate Philippine naval operations.”
Chinese state media reported that Wang had issued a warning to Washington.
“The United States must not use bilateral treaties as a pretext to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor must it support or condone the Philippines’ violations,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The attempts at closer cooperation between the two countries come after China suspended communications between the two militaries following senior U.S. politician Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.
It was not until more than a year later that talks gradually resumed after Xi and Biden met at a summit outside San Francisco last November.