US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s acting Foreign Minister Wang Yi held two days of bilateral talks over the weekend in Malta. According to reports coming from Washington DC and Beijing, it was for the world’s two leading economies to stabilize their turbulent relations and prepare a roadmap for a meeting between the heads of state: Joe Biden of the US and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled in November.

Both the White House and the Chinese Foreign Ministry released separate statements, presenting the meeting as “candid, substantive, and constructive,” with Taiwan and the Russia-Ukraine conflict taking the center stage of discussion.

Sullivan raised “our concerns with the PRC’s provision of various types of assistance to Russia,” a senior official in US President Joe Biden’s office told reporters in a background briefing following the release of the readout. However, she stated that US authorities “have not seen any lethal assistance to date.”

“Wang Yi emphasized that the Taiwan issue is the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations,” according to Wang’s department. “The United States must follow through on its commitment not to support ‘Taiwan independence’ as stated in the three Sino-US joint communiqués.”

Coming from the Chinese foreign ministry, both sides built a consensus to maintain high-level exchanges and hold bilateral consultations on subjects including foreign policy, Asia-Pacific, and maritime affairs.

-Anushka Upadhyay