US President Joe Biden's national security adviser national security affairs Jake Sullivan began his second day of meetings with senior Chinese representatives in Beijing to reduce tensions between the two superpowers ahead of the US elections on November 5, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Sullivan, China's top diplomat Wang Yi and other officials from the two sides will hold talks through Thursday in an attempt to iron out their differences on a range of issues including the Middle East, Ukraine, Chinese territorial claims from Taiwan to the South China Sea and trade.
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Sullivan and Wang Yi continued their discussions after meetings and dinner last night at a luxury resort on the northern outskirts of the Chinese capital.
"In the past few years, there have been fluctuations and reversals in bilateral relations," Wang Yi told reporters yesterday.
"We will look in depth at a wide range of issues, including those on which we agree and those on which there are still differences and we need to manage effectively and substantively,'' Sullivan noted.
In the final months of his administration, Biden has pushed for direct diplomacy, to influence Chinese President Xi Jinping and manage tensions. US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the November election, is expected to follow a similar strategy.
However, many analysts associated with former Republican President Donald Trump consider this approach too soft on China's increasingly aggressive foreign policy.
Sullivan wants to expand military-to-military talks to the level of regional commands, a step Washington hopes will prevent conflicts in specific areas such as the Taiwan Strait.
The US also wants China to do more to prevent the development of chemicals that can make fentanyl, the leading cause of overdose deaths in the US, and to reach an understanding on safety standards for artificial intelligence.
Beijing plans to voice its opposition to US tariffs on a range of industrial goods and export controls aimed at Chinese chip makers, as well as talk about its sovereignty claims over democratically-ruled Taiwan.