The talks between U.S. NSA Jake Sullivan and Chinese Politburo member and Director of the
CCP CC's Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi, which hadn't been
announced beforehand, ran four-and-a-half hours. After the meeting, a senior US
administration official said to expect to "see additional potential meetings in the months ahead,"
though they said nothing is currently being planned between Biden and Xi. In a readout of the
June 13 meeting the White House said "Mr. Sullivan underscored the importance of
maintaining open lines of communication to manage competition between our two countries."
Sullivan said Americans subject to exit bans were a "personal priority" for Biden and him. He
also voiced concern about China's recent veto of a resolution at the United Nations Security
Council related to North Korea. And he underscored "the importance of maintaining open lines
of communication at all levels." A U.S. official said the US goal in engaging China is "ensuring
that each side understand one another's intentions, understands priorities. This is critical to avoiding potential miscommunication, misinterpretation, reducing risk. All these things I think
are critical for, you know, managing the relationship in a healthy and responsible way."
The Global Times (June 14) noted that Chinese and US senior diplomats met face-to-face for
the fourth time this year. It observed the latest meeting drew the bottom line again for the US
to change its miscalculation over the core interests of China, and such frequent high-level
interactions sounded a positive signal for managing China-US relations properly while the US
government was urged to abandon its empty talks and to turn its four "do nots" and one "no
intention" into actions. It said as the US had expressed multiple times that "it does not seek a
new Cold War with China; it does not aim to change China's system; the revitalization of its
alliances is not targeted at China; the US does not support 'Taiwan independence'; and it has
no intention to seek a conflict with China," Yang urged the US to turn those four "do nots" and
one "no intention" into actions as the US' consistent increase of its containment of China won't
solve its own problems and will only put China-US relations into an extremely difficult
situation. It added that the latest face-to-face meeting is part of a series of high-level
interactions between the US and China as bilateral relations are now at a critical crossroads,
and the US was urged to fulfil its promises in handling the relations, as its wrong and extreme
deeds have put the relations into an extremely difficult situation. It quoted a Beijing-based
expert as saying, "The four 'do nots' and one 'no intention' aim to stabilize China-US relations,
which also lays a foundation for cooperation between the two countries." Diao Daming,
associate professor at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times that "China-US
relations standing at a critical crossroads also showed that the US should stop going further
down the wrong path, and it's urgent for it to effectively and concretely adjust its China policy."
To adjust the policy, it's necessary to turn those four "do nots" and one "no intention" into
actions. Diao said, "It's necessary for us to make such clear representation to the US." In an
article in Global Times Zhao Minghao, a senior research fellow at the Charhar Institute and an
adjunct fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China,
said using high-level dialogue to promote the stability of China-US relations, especially to
better manage China-US economic and trade relations, is crucial for the Biden administration
to cope with domestic pressure.
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