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CNN
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Excessive-level US and Chinese language officers mentioned potential talks between US President Joe Biden and Chinese language chief Xi Jinping within the months forward as the 2 international locations press forward on stabilizing communication of their more and more contentious relationship.

US nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan is wrapping up three days of talks with counterparts in Beijing, the place he met Chinese language International Minister Wang Yi and Central Navy Fee vice chairman Gen. Zhang Youxia – the primary assembly between a US official and Chinese language army determine in that function since 2018.

The conferences observe efforts over the previous 12 months from either side to restore fractured strains of communication, at the same time as US-China relations stay fraught over a bunch of frictions together with Beijing’s aggressions within the South China Sea and towards Taiwan, and US commerce controls concentrating on China.

Beijing has additionally been fastidiously watching the upcoming US elections, the place a change of administration in January might influence the trajectory of the connection between the world’s two largest economies.

Readouts from either side recommended that some form of name or talks between Biden and Xi within the coming weeks could possibly be on the playing cards even because the US president is aware of he’ll not be within the White Home subsequent 12 months whoever wins the election.

In Sullivan’s conferences with Wang, the 2 sides “welcomed ongoing efforts to take care of open strains of communication, together with planning for a leader-level name within the coming weeks,” a White Home readout following conferences Tuesday and Wednesday mentioned.

A Chinese language International Ministry readout mentioned they mentioned a “new spherical of interplay between the 2 heads of state.”

Expectations for vital progress on sticking factors within the relationship throughout this assembly have been low, particularly because the US elections loom.

“For either side, they don’t have any robust motivation to push aggressively … due to the election, each are in a ‘wait and see’ mode” whereas trying to keep present relations with out incident, mentioned Liu Dongshu, an assistant professor on the Metropolis College of Hong Kong.

Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is predicted to take care of a stage of continuity with Biden’s China coverage, whereas Republican candidate Donald Trump had a combative and mercurial relationship with China as president and has threatened to broadly develop American tariffs on Chinese language imports if re-elected.

Wang and Sullivan additionally mentioned plans to carry a name between their respective army theater commanders, either side mentioned.

Such talks – a part of a broader resumption of normal army discussions following a gathering between Biden and Xi in November – would contain commanders main American troops within the Indo-Pacific and people main Chinese language technique within the Southern and Japanese theater.

The Biden administration has for months pushed to maneuver direct discussions between the 2 international powers past the federal government brass to uniformed officers making selections within the area. The decision has not but been scheduled, a US official advised CNN.

Wang and Sullivan’s dialogue of army communication comes amid particularly heightened tensions within the South China Sea, the place Chinese language and Philippine ships have been engaged in a sequence of violent, however non-lethal confrontations in latest months.

Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command Adm. Samuel Paparo earlier this week recommended the US might escort Philippine ships by means of the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety regardless of a main worldwide ruling on the contrary.

In his assembly Thursday with Zhang, a senior determine in China’s highly effective Central Navy Fee, Sullivan careworn “US dedication to freedom of navigation within the South China Sea” and “the significance of cross-Strait peace and stability,” in reference to Taiwan, in line with a White Home readout.

Sullivan additionally raised our on-line world, efforts to succeed in a ceasefire within the warfare in Gaza, and American considerations about what the US says is China’s assist for Russia’s protection industrial base because it wages warfare on Ukraine.

In introductory remarks forward of the assembly, which came about at Chinese language army headquarters in Beijing, Sullivan acknowledged how “uncommon” it was to have such exchanges.

“Given the state of the world and the necessity for us to responsibly handle US-China relations, I feel it’s an important assembly,” he advised Zhang.

Zhang referred to as on the USA to “right its strategic understanding of China, return to a rational and pragmatic coverage towards China, (and) earnestly respect China’s core pursuits,” citing Taiwan because the “core of China’s core pursuits,” in line with a readout printed in Chinese language state media.

The final additionally referred to as for either side to “keep stability within the army and safety area.”

Previous to these talks, Sullivan held two-days of engagements with Wang, marking the fifth time that the 2 officers have met over the previous 12 months and a half in a number of areas, together with their final assembly in January in Bangkok.

The 2 agreed to advance areas of cooperation, resembling counternarcotics and AI security and danger – however, as anticipated, made little leeway on main frictions within the relationship.

Wang careworn the significance of US-China coexistence, whereas calling on the US to cease arming Taiwan and assist China’s “reunification” with the island – a self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing.

The highest Chinese language diplomat additionally referred to as on the US to “cease suppressing China within the fields of financial system, commerce, and science and know-how,” calling American considerations about China’s manufacturing overcapacity “an excuse for protectionism.”

Sullivan mentioned the US would “proceed to take needed actions to forestall superior US applied sciences from getting used to undermine our nationwide safety” and expressed concern about China’s “unfair commerce insurance policies.”

The Biden administration earlier this 12 months introduced it could keep a set of sweeping import tariffs in place on Chinese language items — with vital will increase on classes like semiconductors and electrical automobiles anticipated to be carried out quickly. It has additionally instated controls on Chinese language entry to American high-tech that would have dual-use civilian and army functions.

China has responded by limiting the export of sure supplies key to supply high-tech items.

The US has additionally included Chinese language entities in tranches of sanctions concentrating on Russia’s warfare machine, together with a set launched Friday. US officers have repeatedly warned that China’s exports of dual-use items to Russia have been supporting its protection trade and enabling Moscow’s warfare in Ukraine – a cost Beijing denies.

Sullivan’s go to comes forward of a sequence of high-profile multilateral summits in the approaching months that would present a platform for Biden and Xi to fulfill once more in what can be the twilight of Biden’s presidency.

CNN’s Kayla Tausche, Haley Britzky and Shawn Deng contributed to this report.