Top Biden Official Touts Harris’ Experience With China Leaders
(Bloomberg) -- America’s top security official touted Kamala Harris’ credentials for managing one of the world’s most-important bilateral relationships, after talks in China aimed at stabilizing ties ahead of the US election.
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US national security advisor Jake Sullivan highlighted the vice president’s experience dealing with China’s top leadership, and her role in shaping Asia-Pacific policy, during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, as he wrapped a three-day visit to the Asian nation.
“Vice President Harris has been a central member of the Biden foreign policy team,” he said, specifically citing her role in US-China relations. “She’s had the opportunity to engage herself with President Xi and with Premier Li, so she is known to both of the top leaders in China.”
Sullivan’s comments mark some of the most direct by a senior Biden administration official on Harris’ ability to helm delicate relations with the world’s No. 2 economy. They also seemed aimed at addressing concerns the Democratic nominee is lacking foreign policy chops, as voters wait for her to flesh out her agenda ahead of the November vote.
Unlike President Joe Biden who has publicized his “90 hours” of talks with Xi Jinping over their long political careers, Harris has only met the Chinese leader on the sidelines of a summit in Thailand. She hasn’t visited Beijing in her current role, something she shares with Biden partly due to pandemic curbs that clipped travel for years.
Sullivan’s trip was aimed at putting guardrails on ties, as Beijing braces for a turbulent period in US politics in which the only guarantee is another tough-on-China president. Republican nominee Donald Trump has threatened a 60% tariff on all Chinese exports, which UBS Group AG estimates would more than halve China’s annual growth rate.
Election season could stoke suspicion on both sides, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, making Sullivan’s trip important for stability.
“The US may worry that China may interfere in the election,” he added, “while the Chinese side may worry that may some in the US might utilize the China card to gain domestic political benefits.”
During some 14 hours of talks in Beijing — which included his first one-on-one meeting with Xi — Sullivan said he discussed Harris, although declined to elaborate on what questions Chinese officials might have asked about the election.
“I was able to share my experience, my perspective, of working closely with the vice president,” he said, “and the role that she has played over the course of the past four years.”
Sullivan signaled that, as expected, Harris would continue the China policy implemented by Biden, saying that she valued “high-level open lines of communication.” The White House incumbent has also rallied allies to block China’s access to cutting-edge chips citing national security concerns, and vowed to defend self-ruled Taiwan from an invasion to Beijing’s chagrin.
Amid that growing list of disagreements, the two nations have used dialog to stop the ties spiraling. That was on display during Sullivan’s trip with a flurry of meetings announced between officials on both sides in the final months of the Biden administration.
Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi — who have met every few months in recent years to manage ties — announced Wednesday plans to set up a leaders call in the coming weeks. That could pave the way for a final Xi-Biden meeting days after the election, at multilateral events in Peru and Brazil that both presidents have previously attended.
Such a sitdown would be “only natural,” Sullivan said, without committing to any outcome.
Long-stalled calls between US and Chinese military commanders were also penciled in, along with talks between commerce officials and John Podesta, the US senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, and his Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin.
Sullivan became the first US national security advisor in eight years to sit down with a vice chairman of China’s top military body during his trip. The senior White House official called meeting General Zhang Youxia — a family friend of Xi — “very important.”
During a roughly one-hour meeting with Xi, Sullivan reaffirmed Biden’s commitment to prevent competition between the superpowers “from veering into conflict or confrontation.” The Chinese leader said the US should see China’s development as an opportunity and take a “rational” approach.
Hours before Sullivan arrived in Beijing, Canada announced fresh tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, as well as steel and aluminum, that echoed similar US measures. The European Union has also announced levies on EVs from the Asian nation, with Biden officials saying it’s critical for the bloc to present a united front on China trade.
While the relationship still faces challenges, the Chinese leader’s meeting with Sullivan sent an “important signal” of goodwill to the US, said Zhu Junwei, a former researcher in the People’s Liberation Army.
“If talks between the two sides over the last two days didn’t go well, they wouldn’t have met,” she said. “From this perspective, the meeting is successful.”
--With assistance from Josh Xiao and Colum Murphy.
(Updates with details throughout.)
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