U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member
Yang Jiechi on March 14 in Rome. CNN (March 14) said that Sullivan said U.S. believes China,
"was aware...Putin was planning something, they may not have understood the full extent of
it." He added "Because it's very possible that Putin lied to them the same way that he lied to
Europeans and others." U.S. officials said Sullivan will stress the economic penalties Beijing
will face if it helps Russia in its war in Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal (March 14)
reported White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested that in the intense 7-hour meeting
in Rome, U.S. NSA Sullivan had told China's Yang Jiechi that it would take action should
Beijing help Russia make up for losses from Western sanctions. “We’ve been clear there would
be consequences,” Ms. Psaki said at a White House briefing. The Wall Street Journal said
according to Chinese state media, Yang Jiechi presented China as a neutral party to the conflict
during his meeting with Sullivan. “China has always advocated respecting the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of all countries,” and “China is committed to promoting peace talks.” CGTN
(March 14) reported that the Chinese delegation left after the meeting in Rome between China's
top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Jake Sullivan, the U.S. National Security Advisor to President
Biden.
The Global Times (March 14) said Yang Jiechi and Jake Sullivan exchanged views on ChinaUS relations and other international and regional issues of common concern. It said Chinese
analysts said the US wants to use the Rome meeting to further pressure China to serve its
sanctions against Russia, but China won't be misguided, and they slammed Washington for its
13
arrogance in bossing other countries to unconditionally follow its strategy while showing no
respect to the core interests of others. However, the differences won't allow the world's No.1
and No.2 economies to cut off channels of communication, since there are many issues on
which the two sides share common concerns. Experts said the scheduled Yang-Sullivan
meeting "demonstrated that the China-US high-ranking communication mechanism is stably
running and is a positive sign to the world at such a turbulent time". Zhao Lijian, spokesperson
of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said (March 13) the key issue of this meeting is to implement
the important consensus reached by the Chinese and US heads of state in their virtual summit
in November last year. The White House said in a statement on (March 13) that the two sides
will discuss ongoing efforts to manage the competition between the two countries and discuss
the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on regional and global security. Diao Daming,
associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told Global Times that the
March 14 meeting was not one that was urgently set up in response to an emergency, it had
been planned long ago by the two sides according to their own schedules
|
