Jake Sullivan's talks with General Zhang Yujia were cordial, but included a warning that the United States should stop, quote, collusion with Taiwan. Sullivan stressed the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, even as China is embroiled in separate security disputes with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines. Sullivan was the first U.S. National Security

Advisor to visit China in eight years. DW's East Asia correspondent James Chater reports.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi in talks with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

It's the first trip of an American National Security Advisor to China since 2016.

In recent years, these two officials have met several times in third countries, often to stem spiraling tensions between the two superpowers. But this is the first time they've met in Beijing. On the agenda, managing friction across a range of issues, including China's growing relationship with Moscow, as well as tensions with Washington's Asian partners, like Taiwan.

President Biden has been very clear in his conversations with President Xi that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly.

Hanging over the talks is the coming U.S. election. Donald Trump has promised to double down on his tough stance toward Beijing from his last term in office, including raising tariffs on Chinese goods. But Kamala Harris has yet to make clear how she'll approach relations with China, only staking a strong stance at the recent Democratic Party convention.

I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence, that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century.

But regardless of who wins November's election, a complex security picture awaits. In the

South China Sea this week, tensions between China and the Philippines continue to simmer, with Manila accusing Beijing of ramming its vessels.

And on Tuesday, Japan publicly claimed for the first time that a Chinese military aircraft had breached its airspace. Tokyo said the incident was a serious violation of the country's sovereignty. Beijing said that it was investigating the matter.

I'd like to emphasize that China has no intention of invading the airspace of any country.

Both Beijing and Washington have sought to manage expectations for outcomes from the talks. But with the volatile few months ahead in US politics, simply keeping ties on a stable footing will be a welcome result for the two sides.

More now from DEW's East Asia correspondent James Schader, who filed that report. He joins us from Taipei. Now US national security advisers meeting with top-tier officials. Can you say what came out of these meetings?

Well, one of the really crucial things, essentially, is that these two sides are engaged in communication.

Remember, this visit of Jake Sullivan was the first in eight years, the first time a national security adviser has held meetings in China since 2016. Him and Wang Yi have held several meetings over the past couple of years in various capitals around the world, and moments of tensions between the two sides. But really, this is the first time they've held major meetings in Beijing. And of course, that crucial meeting with the top military official Zhang Yuxiang. This is a top military general, someone who's very close to the President

Xi Jinping, and who we also understand really has the ear of Xi Jinping. One of the key outcomes we saw from that meeting is this pledge to re-engage on the military front, to re-establish stronger militaries and military communication. Remember, this is something observers around the world have really been concerned at looking at the US-China relationship over the past couple of years. The officials here really stepping up and saying that they want to hold military calls between commanders of the theatres where the US and China are in conflict.

Now what about the timing of this visit? Election Day in the US is just over two months away, and Donald Trump could well reverse course on any number of foreign policy initiatives by the current president.

Absolutely. And actually, one of the other things that has come out of these meetings is that they hope to make room and pledge to hold communication, hold a final call between

Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. Of course, the question, as you rightly pose, is will that have any difference? Will that really set the right tone for ties regardless of who wins that election in November? Trump, as I mentioned in that report, has said that he plans to double down on his approach to China, doubling down on that really very hawkish and historically hawkish stance towards China that he established in his first term in office, doubling down on tariffs on the Chinese goods coming into the United States.

As it relates to Kamala Harris, we really had less clarity really on what her plans exactly are and whether they'll differ from the president, Joe Biden, where of course she's been in office as vice president over the past couple of years. The expectation that we understand now if Kamala Harris is to take the White House is that there will be a broad continuation of the policy outlined by President Biden over the past couple of years, for example, expanding ties with partners in the Indo-Pacific. And again, this week, just demonstrating how important that really is, seeing that China's engaged in quite touchy situations with Japan, the Philippines and of course that shadow looming over Taiwan here too.

Now, Joe Biden has approved a US strategy in case of coordinated nuclear confrontations with

China, Russia and North Korea. Did that come up in the talks?

Yeah, this is a really important scoop really from the New York Times last week, which indicated that the US has, President Biden has already signed off on a reorientation of the US nuclear deterrent strategy. This is something that has been kept fairly under wraps, so it's not exactly clear whether the specifics of this plan were discussed in those meetings.

But what this strategy really looks at is reorienting the US nuclear strategy, the nuclear deterrent, which is historically really focused on the threat posed by Russia, to one which increasingly looks at the threat posed by Beijing. Of course, the motivating factor behind this is that China's nuclear arsenal is one of the fastest expanding in the world.

The Pentagon estimated last year that China already has some 500 nuclear warheads, with the potential for some 1500 to be operational by 2035. That's really the motivational factor.

It has to be said, of course, that the United States and Russia already have far more nuclear warheads than that. But of course, the expansion and the acceleration of that nuclear arsenal is what's concerning them here. Crucially, again, beyond just that is the extent to which China could link up with other nuclear powers that are US adversaries around the world, namely Russia and North Korea, two countries which flaunt their nuclear arsenal, and of course, their opposition to the United States. The US, it has to be said, when asked about this said that their policy wasn't targeted at any country in particular. But again, just a reiteration of the really complex security picture that officials are trying to deal with here.