Top Chinese diplomat meets U.S. national security advisor

BANGKOK, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) — Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held a new round of talks with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan here on Friday and Saturday.

During the talks, the two sides had candid, substantive and fruitful strategic communication on implementing the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries in San Francisco and properly handling important and sensitive issues in China-U.S. relations.

Wang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, noted that as this year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S., both sides should take this opportunity to draw experience and lessons, treat each other as equals rather than condescendingly, seek common ground while reserving differences rather than accentuate differences, genuinely respect rather than undermine each other’s core interests, and work together to respect each other, live together in peace, and pursue win-win cooperation, finding the right way for China and the United States to get along with each other.

Wang emphasized that the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair, and the recent election in the Taiwan region cannot change the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China. The biggest risk to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait comes from “Taiwan independence”, which also poses the biggest challenge to China-U.S. relations. The U.S. side must abide by the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, put its commitment not to support “Taiwan independence” into action and support the peaceful reunification of China.

Wang pointed out that every country has its national security concerns, but these concerns must be legitimate and reasonable. There should be no politicizing or overstretching of the concept of national security, nor can these concerns be used as a pretext to suppress and contain other countries’ development.

Both sides agreed to carry out further discussions on the boundaries between national security and economic activities.

During the talks, the two sides agreed to jointly implement the San Francisco vision: leaders of the two countries will maintain regular contact to provide strategic guidance to bilateral relations; promote exchanges in various fields and at various levels between China and the United States, make good use of current strategic communication channels as well as dialogue and consultation mechanisms in such areas as diplomacy, military, economy, finance, business and climate change; continue discussions on the guiding principles of China-U.S. relations; launch a China-U.S. counter-narcotics cooperation working group in the near future; hold the first meeting of China-U.S. intergovernmental dialogue mechanism on artificial intelligence this spring; and take further steps to expand people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The two sides also discussed regional and international issues, including the Middle East, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea. ■