China wants to have talks "in depth" with the US, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said today ahead of a meeting in Beijing with Jake Sullivan, a close adviser to US President Joe Biden, which is taking place amid bilateral and regional tensions.
Jake Sullivan's visit to China is the first since 2016 as White House national security adviser.
The visit, which is expected to end on Thursday, comes a few months before the presidential election in US and in a tense context between China and other US allies in Asia.
Japan, which has signed a security treaty with the United States, deployed fighter jets on Monday after a Chinese military aircraft entered its airspace in an unprecedented manner. This episode is considered by Tokyo a "serious violation" of its sovereignty.
For its part, the Philippines, which is tied to the United States by a mutual defense treaty, announced today that China is "the most disruptive" peace in the region, following a series of confrontations in the South China Sea with Chinese warships.
"As always, I hope this discussion will not only be strategic, but also in-depth and constructive," Wang told Sullivan before reporters before their meeting in the Chinese capital.
The US official stated for his part that he is "looking forward" to begin talks.
"We will touch on a wide range of issues: those on which we agree and those (…) on which there are still disagreements,'' Sullivan noted.
< p> The two officials have met five times in the past 18 months, including once in Washington and another at the November 2023 summit between Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Bilateral relations between the two countries remain strained due to trade disputes, Chinese expansion into the South China Sea and the Taiwan issue.
The situation in the Middle East will also be on the agenda of the meeting between the two officials. .
Source: RES-MPE
