White House NSA Sullivan: We Are Committed To High Level Diplomacy

MNI London: Wires carrying comments from White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a meeting in Beijing.

• Xi: “China is committed to stable relationship based on win-win cooperation... We hope that the US will work in the same direction as China… hope US will see Chinese development as 'possibility not a challenge' and work to get along.”
• Sullivan: “President Biden is committed to managing this relationship and to make sure competition does not lead to conflict… We are committed to maintaining high-level diplomacy… President Biden looks forward to engaging with you in the coming weeks.”
• Xi: “Hope US will move in same direction as China, look at China and its development in a positive and rational manner… hope China and US can regard each other's development as an opportunity rather than a challenge.”
• While the comments offer little substantively new information from yesterday's meetingbetween Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Sullivan's trip appears to have successfully opened up military communication channels, seen as crucial to preventing conflict. The trip may also provide some stability to the bilateral relationship ahead of the US Presidential election in November, which could increase volatility between Washington and Beijing.
• Earlier today, Sullivan met with Central Military Commission General Zhang Youxia for the highest-level publicly known talks between the Chinese military and a Biden administration official, described by Bloomberg as a "return to precedent". The pair reaffirmed, "the importance of regular military-to-military communications as part of efforts to maintain high-level diplomacy."