‘Vigorous give and take’: U.S. security advisor discusses economic curbs in rare trip to China

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting Thursday that Beijing hopes Washington will find “a right way” to get along.

“While great changes have taken place in the two countries and in China-U.S. relations, China’s commitment to the goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged,” Xi said, according to an English-language release shared by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have escalated in recent years, spilling over from trade into finance and technology.

The Chinese leader said Thursday he hopes the U.S. would view China’s development “in a positive” light and “work with China to find a right way for two major countries to get along with each others,” according to Beijing.

Sullivan, advisor to the outgoing Biden administration, arrived in Beijing Tuesday for two days of meetings with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat.

On Thursday, Sullivan met with Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission.

This is Sullivan’s first trip to China as national security advisor, despite having met multiple times with Wang in recent years.

The last official trip to China by a U.S. president’s national security advisor was in 2016, when Susan Rice traveled to Beijing under the Obama administration.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Xi have decided to speak by phone in “coming weeks,” the White House said Wednesday. Sullivan is scheduled to depart China later Thursday.

While the outcome of November’s U.S. presidential election remains unclear, being tough on Beijing is a rare issue that both U.S. political parties agree on.

Biden dropped out of the U.S. presidential race this summer, endorsing his Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat nominee.

Harris’ current national security advisor, Phil Gordon, said in May at a Council on Foreign Relations event that the “China challenge” is much greater than Taiwan, and requires ensuring that Beijing “doesn’t have the advanced technology, intelligence and military capabilities that can challenge us.”