Top Biden aide talks to Chinese foreign minister as tension flares

In a sign of the fraught state of US-China relations, neither side chose to publicise the call

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. AP

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, sources said, as relations between the world’s two largest economies remain strained.

Mr Sullivan’s previously unreported call took place days before Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was scheduled to pass through the US on her way to an official visit to Central America.

In a sign of the fraught state of US-China ties, neither side chose to publicise the call between Mr Sullivan and Mr Wang.

The official contact comes after Bloomberg reported that a call between President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping will not happen as soon as US officials had hoped.

In recent years, relations between the two countries have deteriorated as the US and China have clashed over matters ranging from trade to technology and the South China Sea.

Ms Tsai’s stop in the US is the latest irritant. She is expected to visit New York on March 29 and 30 and then stop in Los Angeles a week later.

Such stopovers are normally routine but will draw new scrutiny given the strained state of US-China relations.