US, China agree to expand military talks but disagreement remains over Taiwan in Sullivan-Wang meet

In a rare bilateral talks, the United States and China have agreed to expand military-to-military contact and pledged to hold the second round of talks on artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation. The agreements were made between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at their two-day talks in Beijing which ended on Aug 28.

While both sides disagreed on core issues, a possible call between US President Joe Biden and his counterpart Xi Jinping is likely to happen “in the coming weeks”. During the meeting, both sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and pledged to cooperate in areas such as drug control, law enforcement, climate change and the repatriation of illegal immigrants, The Straits Times reported.

It is pertinent to note that Sullivan’s visit was the fourth of such strategic talks held between the two leaders since May 2023. The first time they met in Vienna to lay the groundwork for the first of a series of top-level bilateral meetings that helped restore a certain measure of stability to the bilateral relationships. However, the brewing tensions between the two nations over a plethora of matters have obstructed fruitful outcomes of such negotiation.

‘No resolution’ on certain issues

Both countries have been engaged in a competitive relationship over issues including technological sanctions, Taiwan, brewing tensions in the South China Sea and China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war. While Sullivan and Wang held a long discussion over these issues, the meeting ended with “no immediate resolutions” on the matter.

Before Sullivan met Wang, a senior US official said in a briefing that the aim of the meeting was not to come up with a specific deliverable, but the meeting is more about clearing up “misperceptions and preventing competition from veering into conflict,” The Straits Times reported.

The readouts released by both the nations on Wednesday described the meeting as a “candid, substantive and constructive discussion” over the two days. Following the meeting, Beijing released a statement in which they maintained that a second round of China-US intergovernmental dialogue on AI would be held at an “appropriate time”.

It is important to note that the last time Biden and Xi came face-to-face was during the November 2023 summit in California. Washington maintained that both sides welcomed further discussion during US senior adviser to the president for international climate policy John Podesta’s “upcoming travel to China”.

While addressing the reporters, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasised that the key to a successful US-Sino relationship is that both nations interact with each other as equals. “Starting from a position of strength is not the right way for countries to interact,” he said.

South China Sea and Taiwan: Key areas of contention

Both sides butt heads over the recent clashes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. “China is firmly committed to safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights over the South China Sea islands," Wang said after the meeting.

Meanwhile, Sullivan mentioned in the US statement that he “expressed concerns about the PRC’s destabilising actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations”, referring to the People’s Republic of China. Wang also maintained that the US “should stop suppressing China in the economic, trade and technological fields and stop harming China’s legitimate interests."

When it comes to Taiwan, Wang maintained that the island region’s independence is the biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and the US should put its commitment not to support “Taiwan independence” into practice. He also urged Washington to halt its arms sales to the self-governing island.

In response to this, Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, said the US statement. While the meeting helped in getting breakthroughs in several areas, US and China continue to disagree on key issues.