U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, arrived in China on Tuesday for a three-day trip that includes talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and follows complaints from China’s neighbors about what they see as China’s territorial intrusions.
Sullivan and Wang will “hold a new round of Sino-US strategic communication,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, exchanging views on bilateral relations, “sensitive issues” and “key international and regional hot spots.”
A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters Friday that Sullivan and Wang would discuss a range of topics, including areas of disagreement, such as Taiwan, Ukraine and the Middle East.
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The visit comes amid protests from U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines over what they see as Chinese incursions.
Japan said a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane entered Japanese airspace for two minutes on Monday, which Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi called “totally unacceptable.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Tuesday that China was trying to verify the information, adding that its military had “no intention of interfering” in any country’s airspace.
Meanwhile, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday that China is “the biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia.
His comments came after a clash Sunday between Philippine and Chinese ships near a controversial reef in the South China Sea.
Sullivan was greeted at the capital’s Beijing airport by Yang Tao, head of the North America and Oceania Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and by US Ambassador Nicholas Burns.
Her trip is the first official visit to China and the first by a national security adviser since Susan Rice visited Beijing during the Obama administration in 2016.
Sullivan and Wang have met in Washington, Vienna, Malta and Bangkok over the past 18 months.
Edited by Mike Firn.