Global Courant
CIA director William Burns stressed the importance of open communication between China and the US.
In an effort to improve communications between Beijing and Washington, CIA director William Burns visited China last month for talks with Chinese counterparts, a US official said.
Burns’ visit in May, first reported by The Financial Times, comes as Washington seeks to ease tensions with Beijing and restore lines of communication amid fears that a miscommunication between the two world powers could inadvertently spiral into conflict. could result.
News of the visit to China comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration has pushed to restore communications and schedule meetings between several top officials in Washington and Beijing.
“Last month, Director Burns traveled to Beijing, where he met with Chinese counterparts and stressed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in intelligence channels,” a US official told Reuters news agency on Friday.
Burns met with Chinese intelligence officials and not any of Beijing’s political or foreign policy leaders, according to a second person who was familiar with the visit and also spoke on condition of anonymity.
The CIA, which does not regularly announce such visits, declined to comment on reports of Burns’ trip to China.
Ties between Beijing and Washington have come under severe strain in recent months over issues ranging from the human rights record in Taiwan and China to Beijing’s growing military activity in the South China Sea and close relations with Russia.
Washington has accused China of considering providing military aid to Moscow in support of its invasion of Ukraine. China has denied those claims.
Some critics of the Biden administration have questioned the value of Washington’s rapprochement with Beijing, arguing that decades of involvement have not changed China’s approach to a range of issues, including trade, security and human rights.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned trip to China in February amid a diplomatic storm after the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying through US airspace and over sensitive military sites.
Also on Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shook hands with Chinese National Defense Minister Li Shangfu on the sidelines of a security summit in Singapore, but the two had no “substantial exchange,” according to the Pentagon.
China previously refused a formal meeting between Austin and Li, who is under US sanctions, during the Shangri-La security summit due to take place in the coming days.
In 2018, Washington imposed sanctions on the Equipment Development Department (EED) of the Chinese Ministry of Defense and its then-director Li for purchasing missiles and fighter jets from Russia.
The sanctions led to a US visa ban and banned the EED and Li from transacting with the US financial system.
At the summit on Saturday, Austin said dialogue between the US and China was “essential” and will help prevent miscalculations that could lead to conflict.
“The United States believes that open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are essential — especially between our defense and military leaders,” Austin said in remarks at the summit.
“The more we talk, the more we can avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict,” he said.
Separately, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that the US wanted to talk to China on nuclear arms control issues “without preconditions”, but that Beijing remained unwilling.
“Simply put, we have not yet seen a willingness in the PRC to separate strategic stability from broader issues in the relationship,” Sullivan said in a speech to the Arms Control Association, noting that this had been the basis of nuclear and strategic security for decades.
“That is why we are also willing to engage China without preconditions, to ensure that competition is managed and that competition does not turn into conflict,” he said.
“We will see what the People’s Republic of China decides to do,” he added.
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