The last time a US national security advisor met their counterpart in China was in 2016, when Susan Rice held the role in the Obama administration.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday met with a senior Chinese military official in a bid to manage tensions brewing between China and U.S. treaty allies in the region.
“The two sides reaffirmed the importance of regular military-to-military communications as part of efforts to maintain high-level diplomacy and open lines of communication,” according to the White House.
“It is rare that we have the opportunity to have this kind of exchange,” Sullivan told Zhang in his opening remarks. “Given the state of the world and the need for us to responsibly manage the U.S.-China relationship, I think this is a very important meeting.”
Zhang said in his opening remarks that he would like to use the meeting to communicate “frankly” with Sullivan and “exchange views on issues of mutual concern.”
The pair also talked about Gaza, concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base, and the need to avoid miscalculations and escalations in cyberspace.
On the issue of Taiwan, Sullivan said it was important to have “peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait.
“China’s continued intimidation and suppression of Taiwan, as well as its naked ambitions for military expansion, are the biggest source of risks that undermine regional peace and stability,” the Taiwanese ministry said.
“As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and work with like-minded partners such as the United States to defend the rules-based international order, to ensure peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region.”
On Wednesday, Manila’s National Maritime Council said it was pushing for a review of the country’s defense treaty with the United States in light of the security challenges posed by China continuing to aggressively assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea despite them being rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016.
Lopez added that “engaging traditional allies and newfound allies and rallying these like-minded nations” was part of the Philippines’ diplomatic actions against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea.
Reuters contributed to the report.
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