Top US, China officials to meet next week post Quad dialogue to discuss 'range of issues'

The top US and Chinese officials will hold two days of talks next week in Alaska, marking President Joe Biden’s administration’s first face-to-face talks with the rival power. According to the Wall Street Journal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Politburo, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, and Wang Yi, the foreign ministry, in Anchorage on March 18 and 19. The meeting with China will follow a virtual meeting President Biden will host Friday with other leaders of the QUAD, which is a strategic group that seems as a bulwark against Chinese expansionism that included Australia, Japan and India. 

A senior administration official has said that the goal behind the US and China’s meeting will be to compare notes on what they hope and plan for domestic politics and what their goals are internationally, regionally and globally. The official informed that the two nations will also discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and issues of disagreement including China’s stance on Hong Kong and pressure on Taiwan. Officials from both countries will also discuss “undeclared economic embargoes” China has placed in Australia. 

QUAD summit 

Meanwhile, during the QUAD meeting, the leaders from four nations, inducing India, Australia and Japan, will be discussing a range of international issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, prevailing economic crisis and climate change, the White House said. Press secretary Jen Psaki told the reporters at her daily news conference that US President Joe Biden’s choice of making Quad one of his earliest multilateral engagement “speaks to the importance we [US] place on close cooperation with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific”. 

Further, all four leaders would be discussing regional and global issues of shared interest. They will exchange views on practical areas of cooperation towards maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. The Summit will provide an opportunity to exchange views on contemporary challenges such as resilient supply chains, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change.

The White House press secretary also noted that the Quad meeting has been taking place regularly at the working foreign minister-level after it was formed in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami and formalised in 2007. Brainchild of then Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) was launched with an aim to convene partners to balance rising China. 

(Image: AP)