National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Holds A Press Briefing In Beijing, China

good evening as I said at the very start of these meetings President Biden has been clear that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly our aim in every engagement with China is to deliver for the American people under President Biden's leadership the United States has and will continue to advance its interest and values look out for its friends and as we do we believe that competition with China does not have to lead to conflict or confrontation the key is responsible management through diplomacy beginning in May of last year that diplomacy has been an

all Hands-On deck effort across the US government and the cabinet which has included four meetings between myself and director Wong y as well as engagements between secretary blinkin secretary yelen secretary rundo and their counterparts and many other cabinet secretaries in their counterparts those discussions help lay the foundation for a productive Summit between President Biden and president XI in San Francisco at the end of last year there our leaders agreed on concrete steps on issues that matter to the American people and for that matter matter to the world this week I traveled to China for the

first time as National Security adviser to take stock of where we have made progress and what work there still remains to be done and also how we can responsibly manage the different difficult issues and the differences that we have in this relationship that's been the focus of my meetings with President XI with director and foreign minister Wong Y and with CMC Vice chairman Jang so sha J excuse me Jang Yos sha this was a true working visit over the course of 14 hours of meetings we discussed progress and next steps on implementation of the Woodside

commitments including our work on counternarcotics and efforts to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs into the United States military to military Communications including an upcoming engagement between our theater commanders as well as work towards another round of AI safety and risk talks among other issues of global concern we discussed the recent efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza these meetings were also about managing tough issues as I said in areas of disagreement and I was direct on these issues as well the United States will continue to take necessary action to prevent

Advanced us Technologies from being used to undermine our national security without unduly limiting trade or investment we have continued concerns about China's unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices we remain deeply concerned about China's support for Russia's defense industrial base and its impact on both European and transatlantic security not to mention on Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine it is a top priority for this Administration to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans in China and this was another opportunity for me to raise those cases as I have

done in my prior engagements I also underscored the long-standing US commitment to Universal human rights and fundamental freedoms in all of my meetings I stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait emphasized the United States's commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and I reaffirm the United States's commitment to our indopacific allies including our concerns about destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea these were constructive candid substantive conversations we believe that keeping lines of communication open is critical and to that end we began planning towards

a leader level call in the coming weeks where I expect these discussions to continue and with that I'd be happy to take your questions yep in your meetings with throughout your meetings with Chinese officials uh including uh XI Jin ping did you get a sense of how the Chinese leadership is feeling about the race for the White House obviously the election would be a looming issue for them I didn't really get a feeling for that we didn't discuss the American election that's obviously something for the American people to decide and not for any other country

to get involved in um so uh neither in my meetings with director Wong nor in the meeting with the president or for that matter with the CMC Vice chair did we specifically talk about the American election yeah hi there mark Stewart from CNN Mark Stewart from CNN um as you mentioned you talked about some of the maritime issues I don't have to tell you obviously things are very tense right now in the South China Sea especially with the Philippines and some of these wreath issues um reading the readout it said you discuss some of this

with sha himself um other than diplomatic speak uh is there a a reasonable road map or blueprint for the future because I think that the level of tension is is reaching an extremely high level so first we believe that the order of the day should be deescalation and we support direct discussions between the Philippines and the PRC to that end we also have made very clear that our mutual defense treaty applies to public vessels including Coast Guard vessels that are op operating uh in the South China Sea and in other waters uh it also applies

to aircraft for that matter so the PRC well understands the long-standing commitment the United States has under its Mutual defense treaty to the Philippines and the Philippines well understands that we have an ironclad commitment to support them uh in their lawful exercise of their rights their Maritime rights um at the same time nobody is looking for a crisis not the Philippines not not the United States and we hope not the PRC but I did raise our concerns about some of the destabilizing actions that have taken place including the ramming of Coast Guard vessels uh and

unsafe intercepts uh near Scarboro sh it's something we'll continue to discuss with our Chinese counterparts it's something we will cons continue to consult closely with our Filipino counterparts on and in fact before I came here I had the opportunity to call uh my Filipino counterpart the National Security adviser secretary uh and I will stay in close touch with him as will uh other members of the US government so we will do our best to try to contribute to managing this issue in a responsible way so that deescalation is the order of the day yeah um

hello this is Ray from the paper so I wonder since the San Francisco Summit you know more than 20 communication mechanism have been established or resumed maintaining the momentum of ongoing dialogue between the two country so following this visit what will be the key focus of the US diplomacy towards China through next January and what specific interim achievement does the Biden Administration hope to secure during this period thank you well first at a macro level the most important thing and a core part of my extended engagement with director Wong not just here but in in

multiple meetings dating back to the beginning of last year is overall respons responsible management of this relationship so that compet uh competition doesn't Veer into confrontation or conflict that is ongoing work and being able to reach the end of President Biden's Administration with the relationship on a stable basis even though we have areas of difference and areas of difficulty this is something we will work towards more specifically we're going to look for further progress on counterar narcotics and reducing the flow of illicit synthetic drugs into the United States States we are going to look for

a deepening of the military to military communication so that we can pass that on to President Biden's successor and in fact a very positive outcome of the sessions here uh is that there will be a call between the theater commanders the indcom commander and the southern uh theater Commander for the pla um having the opportunity today to sit down with the CMC Vice chairman something that uh has not happened for a US icial in 8 years is itself significant because it allows us to give impetus and momentum to those military to military lines of communication

and that will be an important priority for us as we go forward uh there are other issues as well of course that we'll deal with and we'll have to manage the risks and Flash points too cross straight relations the South China Sea uh the uh Chinese support for the Russian defense industrial base and we'll continue to work on all of those in the months ahead yeah welcome to Beijing my name is Laura bicker I'm from BBC News um I'd like to ask you you talk about a call between the two leaders um within the coming

weeks will there be a last meeting between President Biden and president XI and also back to those talks with General Jang how important is it for you to have those talks with a leading H General and what was the tone of those talks it is likely that both President Biden and president she will be at Apec and and the G20 later this year I don't have any announcements to make on either President Biden's travel or a potential meeting but the likelihood is they'll both be there and if they are it would only be natural for

them to have the chance to sit down with one another so we'll have to await any confirmation or any announcements but I think things pointing in that direction seem logical and reasonable um I think the meeting with Vice chairman Jang was very important there is no substitute for actually being able to sit across the table not just with the vice chairman but with his whole team and be able to hear from them their perspective on critical issues and them be able to hear from us our perspective on those same issues whether it's cross straight relations

or the South China Sea uh or cyber issues and being able to have that exchange uh which is rare uh I think allows us to clarify our intentions and our concerns and hear theirs and try to use that in service of responsible management of the relationship going forward yeah thank you from the Wall Street Journal just to follow up on the question about the US election and I'm curious about what questions if any did the Chinese ask you about what uh a potential Harris Administration would represent for us China relations and connected to this did

you raise the issue specifically of uh potential election interference by China during your trip here today thank every time I meet with Chinese officials uh I raised the issue of election interference and and laying down a clear marker that uh it's unacceptable for Any Nation to interfere in the US election and uh this trip was no different in that regard uh I made that point once again I won't characterize what uh the prc's questions were with respect to uh vice president Harris they'll have to speak for themselves on that but what I will say is

that vice president Harris has been a central member of uh the Biden foreign policy team a leading member and has been part of the design and execution of the overall strategy in the indopacific and with respect to the responsible management of us China relations she has had the opportunity to engage herself with President XI and with Premier Lee so she is known to both of the top leaders in China and uh she shares President Biden's view that responsibly managing this competition so it doesn't Veer into conflict or uh confrontation is essential and she also shares

the view that maintaining high level open lines of communication is the way that you can achieve that responsible management so I was able to share my experience my perspective of working closely with the vice president and the role that she has played over the course of the past four years yeah U thank you I'm with Phoenix TV uh the Biden Administration has announced arm sale to Taiwan uh 15 times now since taking office and surpassing the Trump administrations 11 times so China believes that the continued us armed sales to Taiwan and other actions have increased

tensions in the Taiwan trade so how do we respond to this and what is the US willing to do to DS Cate thank you our One China policy has not changed um and our approach to this issue is Guided by the one China policy the Taiwan relations act the three joint communic and the six assurances that remains true to today and that has remained true on a bipartisan basis through multiple administrations and that policy has actually helped contribute to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait for decades and we intend to keep it that

way let's see yeah Ken Ken moru with the AP I want to ask about the 100% tariff that the Canadian government put on Chinese EVS earlier this week it was reported that you had met with prime minister Justin Trudeau and encouraged Canada to go forward with that did that come up at all during these talks did the Chinese side complain about it or the timing and if so how did you respond first of all Canada is a sovereign country that makes its own Sovereign decisions and it would be quite an extraordinary power to show up

on a Sunday evening and produce a major trade policy move on a Monday morning so I think the right way to look at this is I was there for prescheduled cabinet Retreat to speak with them they took independent action it was not at my behest uh or or uh anything that I did or said uh that made that happen that was a determination that they made I did make the point while I was in Canada and I make it standing here today that we have concerns relative to EVS both with respect to security issues and

overc capacity issues we've been public and transparent about that um but this was a decision they took uh on their on their own and I won't characterize the conversations with the PRC on this issue I'll let them speak for themselves yeah Janice Naki FR with NBC a follow up to the election related question uh from Brian uh the Chinese leadership and Chinese officials are about stability and and consistency in their relationships did they at all signal to you any hesitation nervousness or concern about an upcoming change of administration at the White House they recognize that

elections are sensitive periods and transitions are sensitive periods and responsible management through an election and transition is important uh that's something we believe as well and uh my uh visit here during this period um helps contribute to try and sustain that responsible management over this coming sensitive period uh I will refrain from commenting on their perspective about what comes next uh I think that's something that they're going to have to speak for thems elv on yeah thanks uh Trevor Hut Reuters uh Jake could you talk a little bit about the status of the Middle East

uh hostage and ceasefire negotiations I could but uh it's moving hour by hour and I haven't gotten an update in the last several hours what I would say is that uh the negotiators are bearing down on the details meaning that we have advanced the discussions to a point where uh it's in the nitty-gritty and that is a positive sign of progress but at the end of the day uh nothing is done until it's done and so we're just going to keep working at this until we finally get the ceasefire and hostage deal across the line

and I'll have the chance when I get on the plane uh to check in with uh our negotiating team who's participating in these talks in the region even as we speak yeah thank you Evelyn Chang from CNBC on the issue of tech restrictions I know that's something that the US side has remain very firm on and that the Chinese side has repeatedly asked for changes on um if the trajectory is still going to be more restrictions was there you know can you give some more details on what that discussion looked like and then just on

the aspect of uh crossray tensions and Southeast South China SE uh was there any specifics on what would look what a deescalation might look like thank you we had extended discussions about economics and National Security and uh I won't characterize the PRC position on that other than to say it wasn't it it was consistent in the room with what they have said publicly on the issue for our part I laid out our approach uh which is rooted in the concept of small yard high fence I explained why it is that we've feel we have to

take some targeted restrictions to ensure that Advanced Technologies aren't used against US National Security I explain that our approach is one of drisking not decoupling and described in some detail how we saw drisking in practice and I also raised our concerns about steps that the PRC has taken with respect to uh the intersection of economics and National Security and the impact that that has had on Western businesses and on Supply chains and so so we had a vigorous give and take on the issue uh obviously we didn't come to agreement uh on certain aspects of

things but I think the dialogue is is very useful because it clarifies the concerns of each side and also gives us the opportunity to explain what it is that we are doing and what it and what we are not doing and I thought that was valuable we didn't reach any specific agreements on the south chaee um you know for one thing it's not for the United States to reach agreements with China over the heads of parties like the Philippines for another um you know there's no substitute for that direct diplomacy between the two of them

but we did indicate and reiterate uh our longstanding commitment to our Ally and our long-standing commitment to the rule of law freedom of navigation uh and the free exercise of Maritime rights in the South China Sea and we'll continue to do that take uh one more question yeah uh China Media Group speaking so uh we noticed that almost all of your accompanying staff can speak Chinese so uh do you think this helped you to communicate with your Chinese counterpart and uh does this help you accurately understand China's core concerns thank you yes the answer is

yes no it's having a team here um many of whom do speak fluent Mandarin um have deep experience on uh issues related to the PRC and the US China relationship this is um you know it makes my job a heck of a lot easier and makes me much better than I would otherwise be and I I stand on the shoulders of those experts uh because you know they're the ones with the insights and the wisdom uh that drives forward the conversations that we've had here over the last three days so all right we'll do two

more yeah yes Keith bridge for the New York Times have you made any progress with China in discussing what might be a possible resolution for the war in Ukraine thank you I can't say that we did make progress on that issue uh the PRC has been very public in its view that uh the war should end through diplomacy uh they've laid out various principles both unilaterally and in a separate communication with the Brazilians um we had the opportunity to exchange views on the war against Ukraine over the course of the last three days we didn't

reach any particular plan uh with respect to diplomacy in large part because the United States very rigorously adheres to the simple maxim of nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine so ultimately it'll be up to Ukraine to decide how it wants to proceed with diplomacy and negotiations yeah way from ta perhaps an overarching question um several months ago and Chinese uho us relation is very intense especially around the time uh us impos uh kind of additional tariff on Chinese EVS or semiconductors um and China is facing this trade War nowadays with Europe but all of a sudden

uh ukine and uh us China relations seems to be on better track especially for the last few months of this year uh what's behind uh this uh change does that have anything to do with uh vice president Harris taking over the um presidential race or any other factor from the Chinese side and looking forward do you see us China relations uh turning uh marginally for the better for the uh next few months or potentially in next few years compared to a potential second Trump term thanks I can't characterize the Chinese side on this issue they're

going to have to speak for themselves what I can tell you is that we believe in the Biden Administration that intense diplomacy matters um because it doesn't resolve every issue it doesn't mean that we're going to agree on everything uh but it does mean that we can improve understanding we can clarify misperceptions we can reduce the risk of miscalculation and we can identify areas to work together where our interests align that might previously have been hidden so the relationship remains a competitive relationship we need to responsibly manage that comp competition and we're doing that through

this very detailed painstaking multiple rounds of of diplomatic effort and it's not to arrive at a certain end result where everything's just resolved it's rather to arrive on a stable basis so that each of us can stand up for our interest we can stand up for our friends we can defend our values we can take the actions we feel we need to take and service of our national interests but we can also work together to ensure that the relationship is managed responsibly that is what this trip was about that's what the diplomacy of the last

two years have been about and we do believe that it puts us in a position to increase the prospect um of stability in the relationship but we have to keep in mind too that there are always risks uh risks of escalation risks of misunderstanding risks of something going arai and we've seen that before in the US China relationship and we discussed those risks too at some length whether it's to do with cross Strait relations with the South China Sea or uh European security and the war in Ukraine or or many other issues in including issues

that were not previously foreseen uh like incidents from a year or two ago so this is something we will have to keep working at and it's a work in progress today is not the end of anything it's just the continuation of sustained pattern of intensive diplomacy led by President Biden and president XI and carried out by many of us across our Administration and the Chinese government and we're going to keep at it thank you guys