Top U.S. official holds rare China talks as rivals work to stabilize ties

BEIJING — In the latest sign that rival superpowers China and the United States are working to stabilize ties, national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday and held rare talks with a top Chinese military official.

It comes a day after the White House said that President Joe Biden would speak by phone with Xi “in the coming weeks.”

Sullivan’s trip to China, his first in the role, comes at a time of rising tensions between China and U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific, where Washington has criticized growing Chinese pressure on Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy claimed by Beijing, and Chinese military actions in the South China Sea, a strategically important waterway that Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

The White House said Sullivan’s meeting with Xi were part of efforts to “responsibly manage” the U.S.-China relationship.

“Both sides welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication, including planning for a call between President Biden and President Xi in the coming weeks,” it said in a readout.

The meetings Sullivan had in Beijing, as well as the impending phone call between Biden and Xi, suggest the two countries could be building toward another summit between their leaders before the end of Biden’s term.

At a news conference Thursday, Sullivan said that while he had no announcements to make, both Biden and Xi were likely to be at summits later this year of Asia-Pacific leaders and the Group of 20 nations, and that “if they are, it would only be natural for them to have the chance to sit down with one another.”

The U.S. and China have also been seeking to improve communication between their militaries to minimize the risk of conflict in