Analysis: U.S. and China Have Overlapping Goals
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made a visit to China for a strategic dialogue with Chinese officials. To gain insights into the latest U.S.-China discussions in Beijing, TaiwanPlus spoke with Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the National University of Singapore.
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00:00What's the significance of Jake Sullivan's visit to China?
00:04What they call the strategic dialogue, or the strategic channel, is really the highest
00:10level working level dialogue between the U.S. and China, and these are two of the most important
00:16foreign policy interlocutors below the chairman of the party and president of the U.S.
00:24So it's very important as an opportunity for the two sides to exchange views, improve their
00:32mutual understanding, and reduce the risk of miscalculation.
00:37How prominent has the issue of Taiwan been in Sullivan's meeting with Chinese officials?
00:43Taiwan is the number one issue for the Chinese side in almost every dialogue that they have,
00:49certainly at the political, military, diplomatic level.
00:52So Taiwan is always on the agenda because China insists that it's on the agenda.
00:57So it's important.
00:59It was certainly discussed.
01:01I think if you look at the two competing readouts, the one from the Chinese side and the one
01:06from the U.S. side, it's quite clear what Wang Yi wanted to convey about how important
01:13Taiwan is to them and how concerned they are about trends, and how important it was for
01:19Jake Sullivan to give reassurances that U.S.
01:22policy is unchanged and that the U.S.
01:24commitment to maintaining peace and stability in this prostrate relationship is still very,
01:31very strong and most importantly, unchanged.
01:34One of the major aims of Sullivan's visit to China is to stabilize U.S.-China relations.
01:40Given the many sore points between the two superpowers, how feasible would you say this is?
01:46Both the U.S. and China have fairly overlapping goals for the relationship and for this meeting
01:53in particular.
01:55And I think the U.S. goal is definitely to maintain a floor under the relationship, prevent
02:00competition from veering into conflict.
02:05That's obviously a very real risk, and it's the biggest concern on the U.S. side, but
02:09it's one that's shared by the Chinese side.
02:12I think Wang Yi conveyed to Mr.
02:15Sullivan that China would really like the U.S.
02:17to change a lot of its policies that would accommodate China and end the containment
02:24strategy that they see occurring.
02:27How might the upcoming U.S.
02:29elections factor into this and other U.S.-China diplomatic efforts?
02:33I think the next administration, regardless of who that is, will want to maintain those
02:41channels of communication at the highest level where they can provide very authoritative
02:47perspectives, where they can provide reassurances as well as seek areas of competition that
02:54can be managed and should be managed, as well as the areas of cooperation where both sides
02:59have very clear overlapping interests.
03:02So I think it seems logical that they'll continue, but there's possibilities that there'll
03:08be other channels.
03:09And I think certainly there'll be an interest in arranging meetings between Xi Jinping and
03:15the next U.S. president.
03:17And the best way to organize and prepare for those bilateral talks between the president
03:25and the general secretary is through their national security advisors.