ST HSIEH
May 18, 2022
Regular high level phone calls are important for stabilizing US-China bilateral relation, which is tense. This particular phone call may be a prelude to President Biden’s Korea and Japan tour later this week when Biden is expected to form the IDEF excluding China.
“Lately, the two sides have held dialogues in fields including military-to-military exchanges, climate change, health and agriculture,” are positive, but somehow there are no exchanges on trade. Clearly, the reason is because Biden has not made his decision on US tariff against China yet.
Ukraine war, of course, is a major issue for US that China should try to help Russia in any form. US promised that China or any nation supports Russia could face extremely severe economic sanctions. Lately, EU is facing Russian challenges on energy supply that already caused economic slowdown. It is not clear any sanction against China will not trigger a global recession.
Taiwan is a major issue for China that US should not support Taiwan independence. China has not ruled out military actions against Taiwan independence, the risk of war is real. So, the US can count on China to keep its promise, Yang said.
We wish President Biden a productive trip to Asia and ease the tensions in the region.
Top diplomat Yang Jiechi warns the US against playing ‘Taiwan card,’ vows China’s firm actions to safeguard sovereignty in phone talk with Sullivan
By Global Times Published: May 19, 2022 02:01 AM
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi held a phone conversation on Wednesday with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan upon request in which he warned the US against playing the “Taiwan card” and vowed that China will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests and the US can count on China to keep its promise.
Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, urged that the two countries should earnestly implement the important consensus reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden on the China-US relations.
Lately, the two sides have held dialogues in fields including military-to-military exchanges, climate change, health and agriculture, which is positive, and the momentum of dialogue should be maintained, said Yang.
The Taiwan question is the most important, sensitive and core question in China-US relations, Yang stressed, adding that the US side has made it clear on many occasions that it follows the one-China policy and does not support “Taiwan independence.”
However, recent US actions and statements on the Taiwan question are quite different, said Yang, noting that if the US side persists in playing the “Taiwan card” and goes further down the wrong path, it will surely put the situation in serious jeopardy.
China urges the US to grasp the situation, strictly honor its commitments and abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three Sino-US joint communiques, said Yang.
China will take firm actions to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, and the US can count on China to keep its promise, Yang said.
The US should match its words and deeds, translate its commitments into concrete policies and actions, cooperate with China, properly manage differences between the two sides, and do more constructive things to bring bilateral relations back to the right track of sound and steady development, said Yang.
The two sides also exchanged views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other international and regional issues.
In March, Yang met with Sullivan in Rome when the two sides agreed to jointly implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, increase understanding, manage differences, expand consensus and strengthen cooperation to create the conditions for bringing China-US relations back on the track of sound and steady development.
Readout of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Phone Call with Politburo Member Yang Jiechi
MAY 18, 2022•STATEMENTS AND RELEASES
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke today with Chinese Communist Party Politburo Member and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi by phone. This phone call, which followed their March 14 meeting in Rome, focused on regional security issues and nonproliferation. Mr. Sullivan and Director Yang also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine and specific issues in U.S.-China relations.
Biden adviser Sullivan and China’s Yang discuss North Korea, Taiwan
By Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) – U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that he discussed the possibility of North Korean nuclear or missile tests with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi during a call focused on regional security issues and nonproliferation.
Sullivan told a White House briefing that U.S intelligence shows North Korea could be preparing for such a test before, during or after President Joe Biden’s trip to South Korea and Japan starting this week.
“I spoke with my Chinese counterpart this morning, and covered this issue of the DPRK,” Sullivan said of the call with Yang.
The United States was prepared to make short- and long-term adjustments to its military posture to ensure defense and deterrence to its allies in the region, Sullivan said.
Any such test by North Korea would underscore the lack of progress in denuclearization talks, and could overshadow the Biden administration’s broader focus during his Asia visit on trade and rallying allies in the face of growing competition with China. The United States has pushed for more United Nations sanctions on North Korea, but China and Russia have signaled opposition.
Sullivan did not give further details on the call, but the White House said earlier in a statement that he and Yang had discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine and “specific issues in U.S.-China relations.”
Sullivan and Yang last met in Rome in March, ahead of Biden’s call that month with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the U.S. president warned Xi of consequences should Beijing offer material support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
China has refused to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions and has criticized sweeping Western sanctions on Russia, but senior U.S. officials say they have not detected overt Chinese military and economic support for Russia.
The United States, India, Australia and Japan agreed in March that what is happening to Ukraine should not be allowed to happen in the Indo-Pacific, an oblique reference to the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.
“If the U.S. side persists in playing the ‘Taiwan card’ and goes further down the wrong path, it will surely put the situation in serious jeopardy,” Xinhua cited Yang as telling Sullivan.
Yang added that China would take “firm actions” to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, Xinhua said.
China-US cooperation leads to win-win results, while decoupling runs against historic trend: FM
By Global Times Updated: May 18, 2022 05:37 PM
The essence of China-US cooperation should be of mutual benefit and win-win, while keeping on opening-up is an unstoppable historic trend in the era of globalization, said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FM) spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a press briefing held on Wednesday.
Wang made the comment in response to remarks from the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) that the chamber utterly opposed outright disconnection between China and the US.
The chamber also called for US tariff exemption targeting imported goods from China, and opposed politicizing China’s quarantine measures against coronavirus, according to its recently published 2022 American Business in China White Paper.
China is one of the world largest markets which is growing rapidly and is also a major products and services export destination for American enterprises, said Wang.
The spokesperson stated that China is also an important supplier of a large number of products and components needed by production, benefiting US consumers with low-price products. More than two-thirds of the American companies surveyed said that China belongs to one of their top three global markets for investment, Wang noted.
“China will study the suggestions put forward in the white paper, and provide more opportunities for multinational companies including those from the US,” said Wang.
Wang reaffirmed that China’s economy will basically maintain a positive trend and hopes the US will foster a healthy bilateral relationship together with China by listening to feedback provided by American multinational companies.