5 key things as US’s Jake Sullivan meets China's Wang Yi in Beijing today

Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor, is due in China Tuesday (August 27) to meet the country’s top diplomat Wang Yi.

During the trip, the first by a US national security advisor to Beijing since 2016, Sullivan is expected to discuss the contested and volatile South China Sea, the Taiwan issue, and Xi’s support to Russia. Sullivan and Wang have met four times over the last year and a half– once in Washington and the other times in Vienna, Malta and Bangkok.

China has historically been willing to collaborate with US national security advisors, viewing them as key decision-makers close to the president who can negotiate without the media spotlight faced by the secretary of state or top leadership.

ON THE AGENDA

1. China’s aggression against Taiwan

AFP quoted a US official as saying that Washington would press Beijing on its mounting “military, diplomatic and economic pressure” on the island territory of Taiwan, which China has not ruled out “unifying” through force.

Since the inauguration Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te this year, China has launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan. The Chinese military had sent heavily armed warplanes and staged mock attacks shortly after Taiwan Lai, who Beijing sees a separatist, took office.

2. South China Sea: China, Japan, and the Philippines

The talks are expected to be tense, with China recently embroiled in security rows with some of Washington’s key allies in the Indo-Pacific region: Japan and the Philippines.

On Monday (August 26), Tokyo accused Beijing of a “serious violation” of its sovereignty after a Chinese military aircraft “violated” its airspace. Japan had scrambled fighter aircraft following the incident.

The next day, Philippine defence chief called Beijing the “biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia. That comment came after a week of confrontations between the two countries’ ships near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

3. China’s support for Russia

Sullivan is expected to reiterate Washington’s concerns about Beijing’s support for Moscow in its major expansion of its defence industry since the Ukraine invasion.

In the past, China has countered such criticism by pointing out that, unlike the US, it does not directly supply weapons to either side.

4. Tech and competition

“We are committed to making the investments, strengthening our alliances, and taking the common steps on tech and national security that we need to take,” AFP quoted the US official as saying. She was referring to wide-ranging restrictions on US technology transfers to China imposed under President Joe Biden.

The meetings between Wang and Sullivan were sometimes announced only after they concluded and the two had spent long hours together behind closed doors.

5. Possible Xi-Biden meet

South China Morning Post, quoting Chinese observers reported that “the odds are very high but expectations are low” for a summit between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

With inputs from AFP