(Bangkok) US Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the importance of keeping in touch with China during her brief meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bangkok on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Summit (APEC) , said a US official.
Mme Harris spoke to the Chinese leader just before a session of exchanges between leaders of Apec, said this representative of the White House.
This interview comes less than a week after that between US President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The vice president repeated Mr. Biden’s message that “we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
MM. Biden and Xi tried to ease tensions between the two rival superpowers during their three-hour face-to-face meeting, the first since the Democratic president took office.
The latter affirmed that a new Cold War was not necessary, joined by Xi Jinping who assured that China had no intention of “changing the existing international order”.
Deter Pyongyang
In a sign of relaxation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit China in early 2023, which would be the first visit by a senior US official since 2018.
In particular, the United States is asking for China’s help in deterring North Korea from carrying out a nuclear test, which is increasingly feared by Washington and Seoul following a recent record series of ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang. .
“We believe that Beijing has a role to play,” said another member of the delegation of Mr.me Harris.
China must use its influence on North Korea, of which it is the main diplomatic and economic ally, to encourage the regime of Kim Jong-un not to go in this direction of provocations, which only destabilizes the region. and the world,” the source said.
Kamala Harris met the leaders of her Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Japanese and South Korean allies on Friday in an emergency meeting in response to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by Pyongyang.
Joe Biden did not make the trip to Bangkok, held back by his granddaughter’s wedding in Washington.
After Thailand, Kamala Harris is expected Tuesday in the Philippine province of Palawan, on the shores of the South China Sea, a large part of which is claimed by Beijing.
She will become the highest American official to go there.