National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met on January 26-27 with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member, Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok to follow up on the Woodside Summit between President Biden and President Xi last November.  This meeting was part of the effort to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition in the relationship as directed by the leaders.  Mr. Sullivan stressed that although the United States and China are in competition, both countries need to prevent it from veering into conflict or confrontation. The two sides discussed next steps on a range of areas of cooperation discussed at Woodside.  Mr. Sullivan and Director Wang Yi recognized recent progress in resuming military-to-military communication and noted the importance of maintaining these channels.  They also discussed next steps towards holding a U.S.-China dialogue on AI in the spring.  Mr. Sullivan and Director Wang welcomed advances in cooperation on counternarcotics issues, including the launch of the U.S.-China Counternarcotics Working Group on January 30.  The two sides held candid, substantive and constructive discussions on global and regional issues, including those related to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East, DPRK, the South China Sea, and Burma.  They discussed cross-Strait issues, and Mr. Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.  The two sides committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level diplomacy and consultations in key areas between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, including through a call between President Biden and President Xi.

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