 "Sullivan met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Monday.")
Sullivan’s visit comes just months before the US general election in November, in which Vice President Kamala Harris is running to succeed outgoing President Joe Biden | Photo: Reuters
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will travel to China next week to hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the White House said in a statement.
During his visit from Aug. 27 to 29, Sullivan will discuss issues such as Taiwan, bilateral military talks and the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. He will also discuss China’s support for Russia’s defense industry, as well as tensions in the South China Sea, North Korea, the Middle East and Myanmar, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters in a conference call.
The senior administration official said Sullivan’s visit should not be linked too closely to the election.
“That’s not the point. We’ve tried to do these Wang Yi-Jake Sullivan touchpoints about once a quarter,” he said.
“(The election) is always in the background of any conversation with foreign leaders who are worried about what happens next or what the transition will look like. But in this meeting, we will focus on the issues and problems that we are dealing with,” the official added.
During his visit, Sullivan would push for a resumption of theater-level military talks with China and would likely also raise U.S. concerns about China’s “increased military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan.”
Relations between China and the US have been particularly turbulent in recent years, with the two countries arguing over their economic ambitions and incidents such as the US shooting down of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year further fuelling tensions, Al Jazeera reported.
Notably, this is the first visit by a U.S. national security adviser since 2016, although other senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited China over the past two years.
Sullivan’s visit comes just months before the U.S. general election in November, in which Vice President Kamala Harris is running to succeed outgoing President Joe Biden.
If Harris wins, she is expected to continue to seek dialogue with China while maintaining pressure. Her Republican rival Donald Trump, meanwhile, has announced that he will take a tougher line against China. Some of his advisers see a far-reaching global confrontation looming, Al Jazeera reported.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 24, 2024 | 7:23 am IS
