US, Chinese security advisers hold talks in Zurich

ZURICH/BEIJING (Reuters) – US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi began talks in Switzerland on Wednesday, in a bid to improve communication despite a deepening strategic rivalry and tensions over hotspots including Taiwan.

A source close to the Zurich talks told Reuters that the closed-door meeting was under way at an airport hotel in the Swiss city, where Chinese and Western journalists gathered.

It is Sullivan’s first face-toface meeting with Yang since their acrimonious exchanges in Alaska in March, which also involved US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The White House said in a statement that the meeting follows up on President Joe Biden’s September 9 call with Chinese President Xi Jinping “as we continue to seek to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.”

That call ended a nearly seven-month gap in direct communication between the leaders, and they discussed the need to ensure that competition between the two – with relations sinking to their lowest level in decades – does not veer into conflict.

In a brief statement on Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said Yang and Sullivan will “exchange views on China-US relations and relevant issues” during their Zurich meeting.

Taiwan has reported 148 Chinese air force planes in the southern and southwestern part of its air defense zone over a four-day period beginning on Friday, the same day China marked a patriotic holiday, National Day.

The US urged China on Sunday to stop its “provocative” military activities near Taiwan.

Biden said on Tuesday that he has spoken to Xi about Taiwan and they agreed to abide by the “Taiwan agreement,” as tensions have ratcheted up between Taipei and Beijing.