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©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 15, 2032. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo
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By Steve Holland and Laurie Chen
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, Beijing and Washington said on Sunday, as the world’s two largest economies try to stabilize disturbed relations.
The two sides held “frank, substantive and constructive” discussions during multiple meetings from September 16 to 17, according to separate statements from the White House and the Chinese Foreign Ministry published on Sunday.
Sullivan’s meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
Sullivan last met Wang in Vienna in May.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and conduct bilateral consultations on Asia-Pacific affairs, maritime affairs and foreign policy.
The White House added that both sides are “committed to maintaining this strategic communications channel and pursuing additional high-level engagement and consultations in key areas in the coming months.”
Washington said Sullivan “noted the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” while Wang warned the United States that the Taiwan issue is the “first insurmountable red line of Sino-US relations,” the Chinese statement said Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Biden this month expressed disappointment that Xi had skipped a Group of 20 leaders summit in India, but said he would “meet” with him. The next likely opportunity for Biden to hold talks with Xi is an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen traveled to China this year to ensure continued communication between the two countries, amid tensions that flared after the US military seized a Chinese surveillance balloon had shot down flying over the United States. .
Biden and Xi last met in 2022 on the sidelines of a G20 summit on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali.