Yang-Sullivan meeting draws bottom line for US
Washington urged to turn promises into actions, abandon Taiwan illusion
By and Published: Jun 14, 2022
Yang Jiechi (1st R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (1st L) in Luxembourg, on June 13, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
Chinese and US senior diplomats met face-to-face for the fourth time in a year as tensions across the Taiwan Straits intensified due to Washington's misconception of its China policy.
The latest meeting drew the bottom line again for the US to change its miscalculation over the core interests of China, and such frequent high-level interactions sounded a positive signal for managing China-US relations properly while the US government was urged to abandon its empty talks and to turn its four "do nots" and one "no intention" into actions.
In a four-hour meeting in Luxembourg, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the US shouldn't have miscalculations or illusions on the Taiwan question and Yang warned that if the question is inappropriately handled, it would have a disruptive impact because it concerns the political foundation of China-US relations.
As the US had expressed multiple times that "it does not seek a new Cold War with China; it does not aim to change China's system; the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China; the US does not support 'Taiwan independence'; and it has no intention to seek a conflict with China," Yang urged the US to turn those four "do nots" and one "no intention" into actions as the US' consistent increase of its containment of China won't solve its own problems and will only put China-US relations into an extremely difficult situation.
The latest high-level interaction came just three days after the first face-to-face meeting in two and half years between Chinese and US defense chiefs in Singapore, where which China's firm position on the Taiwan question was also reiterated. The Yang-Sullivan meeting was not announced in advance, as some US media reported, and was described as candid, in-depth and productive.
The meeting was not announced in advance probably because there were uncertainties about how it would be carried out, and whether the two sides could reach any consensus, a Beijing-based expert on diplomacy told the Global Times on Tuesday. "To keep the meeting low profile would also make it practical and help it yield concrete results," he said on condition of anonymity.
Yang and Sullivan had met face-to-face three times over the past 15 months. Following an intensive and unprecedented face-to-face confrontation in Alaska in March 2021, the two senior diplomats held talks in Switzerland last October ahead of the virtual meeting between the top leaders of the two countries the following month. In March, they had seven-hour talks in Italy focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
The latest meeting was also held after US President Joe Biden's Asia trip that was widely seen as Washington's concrete efforts to build an ideology-driven small clique in containing China. The Yang-Sullivan meeting, held before a scheduled NATO meeting at the end of June, was seen by some Chinese experts to have delivered a strong message to Washington that it should quickly, effectively and concretely adjust its wrong and extreme China policy of forming small cliques in both Asia and Europe.
To fulfill the promises
Some Chinese experts believe that the latest face-to-face meeting is part of a series of high-level interactions between the US and China as bilateral relations are now at a critical crossroads, and the US was urged to fulfill its promises in handling the relations, as its wrong and extreme deeds have put the relations into an extremely difficult situation.
"The four 'do nots' and one 'no intention' aim to stabilize China-US relations, which also lays a foundation for cooperation between the two countries," the Beijing-based expert said.
Biden reiterated that the US "does not seek a new Cold War with China, does not aim to change China's system, the revitalization of its alliances is not targeted at China and the US does not support 'Taiwan independence'" during the virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last November, and claimed that the US has no intention of seeking conflict with China. In a video call between the two top leaders, Biden reiterated such stance, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also included those points in his recent China policy address.
However, the US apparently failed to fulfill its promises as it continued colluding with its allies through AUKUS and Quad to contain China, provoking the conflicts by supporting the secessionists in Taiwan with controversial arms sales to the island, and constantly slandering China over "human rights," China's Hong Kong and Xinjiang regions.
"China-US relations standing at a critical crossroads also showed that the US should stop going further down the wrong path, and it's urgent for it to effectively and concretely adjust its China policy," Diao Daming, associate professor at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday. To adjust the policy, it's necessary to turn those four "do nots" and one "no intention" into actions, Diao said.
NATO will hold a meeting in Madrid by the end of June. "It's necessary for us to make such clear representation to the US," Diao said.
Taiwan in focus
During the meeting, Yang warned that the US shouldn't have miscalculations or illusions on the Taiwan question. The Taiwan question concerns the political foundation of China-US relations, and if it is not handled properly, it will have a disruptive impact.
This risk not only exists but also will continue to grow as the US has been engaging in using the Taiwan question to contain China, and Taiwan authorities now rely on the US to seek secessionism, Yang said.
On the Taiwan question, China's State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday in Singapore that the Chinese military won't hesitate to fight anyone who dares to separate the island of Taiwan from China.
"Maintaining regular meetings between senior diplomats and top military officers of the two sides is also helpful in managing current China-US relations," the above-quoted expert on diplomacy told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The face-to-face communication also showed that the two sides have a strong will to keep China-US relations stable by maintaining the bottom line, as communication that is not timely will lead to a possibility of misjudgment that both sides want to avoid, the expert said.
Keeping China-US communication channels open is necessary and beneficial, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a routine press conference on Tuesday.
While some US media hinted that the latest meeting could pave the way for a potential meeting between Biden and Xi, Wang said there's no information to provide in response to a question at the press conference.
Using high-level dialogue to promote the stability of China-US relations, especially to better manage China-US economic and trade relations, is crucial for the Biden administration to cope with domestic pressure, Zhao Minghao, a senior research fellow at the Charhar Institute and an adjunct fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, wrote in an article for the Global Times.
The US needs China not only to cope with its domestic issues such as record-high inflation, but also on diplomacy in dealing with issues such as the Ukraine crisis and Korean Peninsula nuclear issues, Zhao said, noting that if there is "big trouble" in Europe and Asia, the Biden administration's foreign policy will look bad.