2024-08-30 11:37:32
The National Security Adviser of the White House – Jake Sullivan, met today with a high-ranking Chinese military representative as part of his visit to China, aimed at reducing the differences between Beijing and Washington, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
“We rarely have occasion for this kind of conversation,” Sullivan said during his meeting with Chinese General Zhang Yuxia, who is vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission.
“I think this is a very important meeting given the state of the world and the need to manage the relationship between China and the United States in a responsible way,” Sullivan emphasized.
His visit was the first by a US national security adviser to China since 2016.
After the meeting between Sullivan and Zhang Yuxia, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said that the top Chinese military representative had called on the US to suspend any military agreement with the island of Taiwan, AFP reported.
“China has asked the US to suspend any military agreement with Taiwan, stop arming Taiwan and stop spreading fake news about Taiwan,” Zhang Yuxia told Jake Sullivan during their meeting.
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Zhang Yuxia, for his part, welcomed the importance the US government attaches to military security.
The meeting came as Chinese warplanes entered Japanese airspace on Monday and forced Japan, which has a security treaty with the US, to put its fighter jets into the sky.
For its part, the Philippines, bound to the US by a defense treaty, said on Tuesday that China was causing the biggest disturbance to regional peace, following a series of incidents between Chinese and Philippine ships in the South China Sea.
The US is also a major arms supplier to Taiwan, which China regards as part of its territory.
Despite these differences, the US and China appear determined to continue communicating with each other and have begun preparations for a possible telephone conversation between the presidents of the two countries, the White House said. It could take place in the coming weeks.