Tempers in check as China and US foreign policy advisers meet in Zurich

Yang Jiechi and Jake Sullivan head to Switzerland to find ways to manage national rivalries
But a Xi-Biden summit is unlikely soon with no sign of change in White House’s hard line on Beijing, observers say

US-China relations

Catherine Wong

Published: 7:18pm, 6 Oct 2021

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More than six months after their flare-up in Alaska, top Chinese and American foreign policy advisers made a low-key start to talks in Switzerland on Wednesday as they look for ways to ease tensions over a range of issues, from Taiwan to geopolitics and trade.

The meeting in Zurich between Communist Party Politburo member Yang Jiechi and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan comes more than eight months into the administration of US President Joe Biden, who has persisted with much of his predecessor’s hardline approach towards China.

It also comes more than six months after Yang’s last meeting with Sullivan, in which Yang lashed out at the US, saying it was not entitled to talk to China from a “position of strength”.

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Both countries said the talks were to follow up on a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Biden last month.

White House National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said the Biden administration continued “to seek to responsibly manage the competition” between the two countries.

And Chinese officials said the meeting was intended to rebuild communications and explore the possibility of a Xi-Biden summit.

However, the prospect of that meeting taking place this month has dimmed with Xi not expected to travel to Rome for the Group of 20 summit.

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Pang Zhongying, an international relations professor at Ocean University of China, said the conditions had not developed enough for Xi and Biden to meet.

“China hopes there will be some breakthrough in China-US relations,” Pang said. “But now it seems the Biden administration has not taken steps to fundamentally improve China-US ties.”

Positive signs have emerged in recent weeks with the settlement of an extradition order for Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou and the launch of a tariff exclusion process by the United States. But there was no signal that the White House would make a major shift in ties with China, particularly with the formation of the Aukus alliance between the US, Britain and Australia, he said.

Pang said China would assess whether the remarks made by US trade representative Katherine Tai – who said the US was seeking to “recouple” with China on trade – represented a broader American policy direction.

In the meantime, Washington has accused Beijing of undermining regional peace and stability by sending dozens of fighter planes towards Taiwan, including a record 56 on Monday.

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Huang Jing, dean of the Institute of International and Regional Studies at Beijing Language and Culture University, said it was good to see that both sides were talking about the need for “guardrails” to manage their differences but a summit was unlikely to be any time soon.

In Beijing, the Communist Party will hold its annual gathering next month and is preparing for its five-yearly national congress next year, making it difficult for Beijing to arrange a summit.

Huang said that at the meeting in Zurich, China might want to make sure that the US would not spearhead a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics next year and try to strengthen communications over big issues like Taiwan.

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Zhu Feng, director of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University, said Yang would underline three goals that China presented to US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman during her visit to Tianjin in July.

The goals are for the US to stop attacking China’s political system, to drop unilateral sanctions and tariffs on China, and to stop attacking China’s mode of development and policies in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“A summit is still likely, which will help ease tensions and find solutions to the many complex questions in bilateral ties. It’s not that difficult to arrange a summit for them to meet, but the crux is what they have to talk about,” he said.

Additional reporting by Shi Jiangtao and Teddy Ng

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Low-key start as foreign policy advisers meet in bid to ease tensions