U.S. urges Beijing to use its influence to press Iran over Houthi attacks
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan pressed Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during talks in Thailand to use China’s influence with Iran to ease tensions in the Middle East. The officials also agreed to work toward arranging a call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The meetings Friday and Saturday in Bangkok, which followed up on the presidents’ discussions in November in California, took place after a ruling-party candidate opposed by Beijing won Taiwan’s recent presidential election and U.S. and Chinese military
officials resumed a once-frozen dialogue. They played out as attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to threaten global shipping in the Red Sea.
A senior U.S. official said Sullivan cited China’s extensive economic leverage over Iran and emphasized that the destabilizing effect of the Houthi attacks on international commerce. The official noted that China has publicly called for lower tensions, but said it was too soon to tell whether Beijing was using its diplomatic muscle to press Tehran. The official was not authorized to discuss the private conversations between Sullivan and Wang and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang said Washington should stand by a commitment not to support independence for Taiwan. Wang said Taiwan’s election, won by Lai Ching-te, the current vice president, did not alter the Chinese position that the island is part of China and that the biggest challenge in U.s.-china relations is the issue of “Taiwan independence,” according to a statement from the ministry.
Biden has said he does not support independence, but U.S. law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the U.S. to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern.”
The U.S. official said it was not clear when the next Biden-xi conversation would happen, but that the officials hoped it would take place in the coming months.
Wang and Sullivan previously met in Malta and in Vienna last year before the Biden-xi meeting in California.
In November, both sides showcased modest agreements to combat illegal fentanyl and reestablish military communications, keeping the relationship from growing any worse. The U.s.china Counternarcotics Working Group is set to hold its first meeting Tuesday. U.S. officials say fentanyl and its precursors are largely made in China.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory. Earlier Saturday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said China had sent more than 30 warplanes and a group of navy ships toward the island, including 13 warplanes that crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait — an unofficial boundary that’s considered a buffer between its territory and the mainland.