“Use China’s influence with Iran to ease tensions in Middle east”, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan pressed Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during talks in Thailand.
Delegates also agreed to work on arranging a telephonic conversation between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
These sums up the highlights of the concluded meetings on Friday and Saturday in Bangkok, which were a follow up on the President’s discussions in November in California.
It took place after a ruling party candidate opposed by Beijing, won Taiwan’s recent presidential election and U.S. and Chinese officials resumed a once-frozen dialogue.
It all plays out as the attacks by Iran backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to a threat to global shipping in the Red sea.
Sullivan portrayed China’s extensive economic leverage over Iran and emphasized that the destabilizing effect of the Houthi interference in global trade and commerce, a U.S. official said.
Although china has called for lowering tensions and tightening the grip on Houthis, but it is too soon to tell that whether Beijing was using its true muscles on Tehran or not.
The full details of the conversation between Wang and Sullivan are not officially disclosed yet.
Taiwan remains in focus
China’s stance is consistent, emphasizing the “two biggest risks,” meaning that “Taiwan independence” is detrimental to both China and the US, and at least the US does not support “Taiwanese independence,” which can be seen as a directional consensus
Following the regional election in Taiwan, the Biden administration extended its congratulations to DPP’s Lai Ching-te, toward which China expressed its firm opposition
Wang said “Washington should stand by a commitment not to support independence for Taiwan”, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Taiwan’s election won by Lia Ching-te, the current vice president, did not alter the Chinese position that the island is a part of China and that the biggest challenge in US-China relations is the issue of “Taiwan independence”, Wang said, according to a ministry statement.
Both sides should work together to promote mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, and work toward the right way for China and the US to coexist, he noted.
