Chinese foreign minister says Taiwan issue is biggest threat to Sino-US ties

BANGKOK – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had “candid, substantive and fruitful strategic communication” with United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Bangkok, with Mr Wang stressing that “Taiwan independence” poses the biggest risk to Sino-US ties.

The meeting came just over two months after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

China and the US had a rocky start to 2023 but met more often in the second half of the year to try to stabilise ties ahead of Taiwan’s

presidential transition in May

and a potentially caustic 2024 US election campaign.

China’s struggling economy may also dampen Beijing’s appetite for what have been more combative ties with Washington amid improving Chinese relations with Russia.

In San Francisco, Mr Xi and Mr Biden agreed to

open a presidential hotline

, resume military-to-military communications, and work to curb fentanyl production, but remained at odds over Taiwan.

China claims the island as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

The meeting on Jan 27 was the latest quiet engagement between Mr Wang and Mr Sullivan – who reports directly to Mr Biden – with both having met previously away from the media to try to lower the temperature.

Mr Wang, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, told Mr Sullivan the two countries should treat each other as equals and respect their core interests, rather than undermine them, and “build mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation” to establish the “correct way for China and the United States to get along”.

Mr Wang said Taiwan was China’s internal affair, and a recent election there “cannot change the basic fact that Taiwan is a part of China”.

China criticised the US on Jan 25 for causing “trouble and provocation” after the US Navy

sailed its first warship through the sensitive waters

separating China and Taiwan since the election.

The US is Taiwan’s biggest ally and arms supplier, but acknowledges China’s position that there is “one China” and Taiwan is part of it.

“The biggest risk to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is ‘Taiwan independence’ and the biggest challenge to China-US relations is also ‘Taiwan independence’,” Mr Wang was quoted as saying.

Mr Wang told Mr Sullivan all countries had national security concerns, “but they must be legitimate and reasonable”, the Foreign Ministry statement added.

The White House, in a statement, said both Mr Wang and Mr Sullivan recognised recent progress in resuming military-to-military communication and the importance of maintaining those channels.

“Mr Sullivan stressed that although the US and China are in competition, both countries need to prevent it from veering into conflict or confrontation.”

It said the two countries would hold the first meeting of the China-US intergovernmental dialogue mechanism on artificial intelligence this spring. REUTERS