US Vice President Kamala Harris called for open communication with China during a brief meeting with President Xi Jinping on Saturday, days after she held talks with President Joe Biden.
A White House official said Harris spoke with the Chinese leader as he entered a retreat during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meeting in Bangkok.
The vice president reinforced Biden’s message that “we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage competition between our countries,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The meeting came as the US said it was looking to China to do more to rein in its ally North Korea, which on Friday tested a ballistic missile that the US and Japan Officials said it was capable of hitting the US mainland.
Xi, who is on his second overseas trip since the pandemic, has been meeting foreign leaders extensively in Bangkok and at the Group of 20 summit in Bali earlier in the week.
On Monday, Xi met with Biden for three hours at a hotel on an Indonesian resort island, the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies since the two became presidents.
Both sides put a positive spin on the meeting, saying they hope to prevent recent tensions from spiraling out of control and want to cooperate on areas such as climate change.
The Biden-Xi summit and brief meeting with Harris come ahead of Secretary of State Anthony Blanken’s planned visit to China early next year, the first by a top US diplomat since 2018.
Harris on Friday held crisis talks with the prime ministers of five US partners – Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – on Pyongyang’s latest move to issue a strong condemnation of North Korea.
“We think Beijing has a role to play,” another senior U.S. official with Harris said Friday.
China should use its influence to persuade North Korea “not to go in this provocative direction, which only destabilizes the region and the world,” the official said.
Tensions between the US and China have risen, particularly over Taiwan, which Beijing claims.
China held major military exercises in August that were seen as a test for an attack following a solidarity visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, second in line to the White House.
Xi told Biden that supporting Taiwan is a red line. Biden later told reporters that the two leaders understood each other’s positions and did not expect an “easy” attack on Taiwan.
The U.S. is also pressing China to limit its support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, with U.S. officials cautiously emphasizing that Beijing has not sent military equipment.
