China and US Officials Meet in Malta
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, and US national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, held bilateral talks in Malta recently. This meeting took place ahead of a potential meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting scheduled for November.
Wang and Sullivan previously met in Vienna, and their meeting in Malta followed visits by high-level officials to Beijing in recent months. It also preceded Wang’s upcoming meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced that Vice President Han Zheng would represent the country at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, indicating that neither Wang nor Xi would attend.
According to statements released by the White House and China’s Foreign Ministry, the two-day talks in Malta were described as “candid, substantive, and constructive.” The White House emphasized that the meeting aimed to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the relationship between the two countries. Meanwhile, China stated that the focus of the meeting was on stabilizing and improving Sino-US relations.
During the discussions, Wang and Sullivan addressed various issues, including global and regional security, Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, the situation in the Korean peninsula, and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Notably, the apparent disappearances of China’s former foreign minister, Qin Gang, and defense minister, Li Shangfu, were not officially on the agenda for Wang and Sullivan’s meeting in Malta. It is worth mentioning that Wang had reassumed his former position as foreign minister after President Xi removed Qin from the role.
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