China, US will plan Biden-Xi call in coming weeks

BEIJING, Aug 29 (AP): Beijing and Washington will plan for a phone call in the coming weeks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden, the White House said Wednesday after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.
Sullivan's first trip to China as national security adviser was aimed at keeping high-level communications open and stabilizing bilateral relations to avoid conflict.
The White House statement said both sides would keep lines of communication open, including planning for a "leader-level call" in the coming weeks.
There was no indication the two leaders might meet in person before Biden leaves the Oval Office.
The White House said the two sides also planned to hold a military theater commander telephone call in the near future.
China has rapidly expanded its military, and there are concerns that Taiwan and the South China Sea are becoming flashpoints.
Wang told Sullivan that Taiwan's independence poses the greatest threat to stability in the immediate region. He demanded that the U.S. "stop arming the island but support China's peaceful unification," according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that split from authoritarian communist China in 1949, has rejected Beijing's demands that it accept unification with the mainland by peace or by force. The U.S. is obligated under a domestic law to provide the island with sufficient hardware and technology to deter invasion.
The White House statement said Sullivan "underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."
Sullivan planned to meet with China's Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia on Thursday morning, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the yet to be publicly announced meeting.
Zhang has spoken in the past of Beijing's determination to take control of Taiwan. At an international naval gathering earlier this year in northeast China, Zhang said China would strike back with force if its interests came under threat.
He said China's territorial sovereignty "brooks no infringement and its core interests cannot be challenged. We do not provoke trouble, but we will never flinch in face of provocation. The Chinese military will resolutely defend the reunification and interest of the motherland."
Beijing also warned Washington "not to support or indulge the Philippines to infringe" upon China's rights and interests in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines have clashed over the Second Thomas Shoal and lately the Sabina Shoal.