US national security advisor Jake Sullivan to visit China: Will it pave the way for a Biden-Xi meeting?

Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor to United States President Joe Biden, will visit China next week, the White House said on Friday (August 23). This visit could be a step to manage the differences and avoid escalating tensions between the two nations.

Sullivan's trip to Beijing, scheduled from August 27 to 29, will be the first by a US national security advisor to China since 2016.

Other high-ranking officials from the Biden administration, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have made visits to Beijing in the last two years. Though Sullivan has engaged in talks with Chinese officials on several occasions, this visit will be his first to China.

According to media reports, this high-profile visit could pave the way for another in-person meeting between Biden and  China's President Xi Jinping later this year. 

The two leaders met last November in northern California, where they held hours-long discussions. Xi also had lunch and took a walk in the garden with Biden. The meeting was seen as an attempt to stabilise the often tense relationship between the two countries. 

This will be Sullivan’s first visit to China in his role as national security advisor. The planned discussions are part of a broader series of diplomatic efforts aimed at bringing stability to US-China relations.

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The talks, expected to cover a wide range of strategic issues, come on the heels of Beijing’s decision to suspend discussions with Washington on nuclear safety and security. In July, China announced it had halted early-stage arms-control talks with Washington.

A senior US official on Friday told reporters that the US president's stance on Beijing remains firm, despite the upcoming visit by his security advisor and emphasised that the Biden administration still views the relationship with China as highly competitive.

“We are committed to making the investments, strengthening our alliances, and taking the common step on tech and national security that we need to take,” the official said.

The official added, “We are committed to managing this competition responsibly, however, and preventing it from veering into conflict.”

The US has been continuously cracking down on American technology transfers to China and has sanctioned many companies and individuals under the same effort.

(With inputs from agencies)