U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has held “candid” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, as the world’s two largest economies seek to stabilize troubled relations over trade and militarisation of the Pacific. During these talks Wang brought up the issue of Taiwan as a “red line that cannot be crossed in Sino-U.S. relations. The U.S. has vowed to defend Taiwan against possible Chinese aggression.
China has accused the U.S. of weaponizing tech and trade issues under the guise of national security while Washington has warned Beijing against its military ambitions in Taiwan and the Pacific. The U.S. has forged security alliances in the Pacific to counter growing Chinese influence. Sullivan’s meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of high-level discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting of U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
