Security adviser Jake Sullivan meets with Xi to manage U.S.-China bilateral relationship

Aug. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss a number of issues as part of ongoing efforts to manage the bilateral relationship and keep communication channels open.

The White House said that both sides "welcomed onging efforts to maintain open lines of communication," a focus of Sullivan's visit as the United States and China are also planning a call between President Joe Biden and Xi "in the coming weeks."

"The two sides discussed further implementation of the commitments President Biden and President Xi made at the November 2023 Woodside Summit, including on counternarcotics, military-to-military communications, and AI safety and risk," the White House said in a statement.

Sullivan and Xi discussed Russia's war against Ukraine , the South China Sea and cross-strait issues, according to a White House readout of the meeting.

A Chinese government statement said Xi met with Sullivan at the Great Hall of The People in Beijing.

China said it is committed to a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship

"President Xi pointed out that in this changing and turbulent world, countries need solidarity and coordination , not division or confrontation," the Chinese government statement said. "People want openness and progress, not exclusion or regress."

China's government said China and the United States "should be a source of stability for world peace and a propeller for common development."

"China follows a path of peaceful development. While realizing its own development, China is also ready to work with other countries for common development, and to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind," the statement added.

Xi expressed hope that the U.S. will work to carry forward "the traditional friendship between the Chinese and American people."

According to the Chinese government, Sullivan "reiterated that the United States does not seek a new Cold War, it does not seek to change China's system, the revitalization of U.S. alliances is not against China, the United States does not support 'Taiwan independence,; and it does not seek conflict with China."

Sullivan also met with General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in Beijing.

The White House readout of that meeting said the two countries reaffirmed the importance of regular military to military communications "as part of efforts to maintain high-level diplomacy and open lines of communication, as directed by President Biden and President Xi at the November 2023 Woodside Summit."

Sullivan also stressed the importance of cross-strait peace and stability with Taiwan, the U.S. commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and concerns about Chinese support for Russia's defense industrial base.

Wednesday the White House described Sullivan's meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as "candid, substantive and constructive."

Topics of discussion included military-to-military communications, AI safety and risk and ending the flow of illegal narcotics from China to U.S. markets.

A military theater commander phone call between China and the United States is planned in the near future.