New Delhi:

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said that his visit to India is likely the last trip overseas that he will lead as NSA and he cannot think of a better way to end his tenure in the White House.

Speaking at IIT Delhi during the session, ‘The United States and India: Building a shared future’, Sullivan said the United States is finalizing the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India’s leading nuclear entities and US Companies.

“Although former President Bush and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh laid out a vision of civil nuclear cooperation nearly 20 years ago, we have yet to fully realize it. But as we work to build clean energy technologies to enable growth in artificial intelligence, and to help US and Indian energy companies unlock their innovation potential, the Biden administration has determined that it is past time to take the next major step in cementing this partnership,” he said.

“So today I can announce that the United States is now finalizing the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India’s leading nuclear entities and US Companies. The formal paperwork will be done soon but this will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted lists in the United States to come off those lists and enter into deep collaboration with the United States, with our private sector, scientists and technologists to move civil nuclear cooperation forward together,” he added.

He expressed optimism that the technological cooperation between the United States and India will get strengthened in the coming years.

“This is likely the last trip overseas that I will lead as NSA and I cannot think of a better way to end my tenure in the White House, visiting India on my final overseas trip to mark the advances that we have made together over the past four years. This is a shared and historic achievement…I have every reason to believe that within the next decade, we will see American and Indian firms working together to build the next generation of semiconductor technologies, American and Indian astronauts conducting cutting-edge research and space exploration together,” he said.

In his remarks, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said the ties between the United States and India have been strengthened not just due to the work of the two governments but people, institutions, thinkers and researchers.

He also paid tributes to US President Jimmy Carter who passed away last month.

“We will mark the life of a great statesman who died at the age of 100 years. A great American president, but also a great human being who came here at a low point in the United States and India relations and sought to lay down a foundation to reclaim the friendship,” he said.

He recalled that the US had pressed for India’s independence. “We advocated even against our close ally, Great Britain for the independence of the Indian people,” he said.

He also spoke of strong bilateral ties as the Biden administration completes its term.

“The completion of a chapter as a new one begins, the summary of the work that has happened not just between two governments, between two national security advisors, a President and a Prime Minister, but the peoples, the institutions, the thinkers, the researchers, the investors, the builders, the doers, those folks that come together to imagine a world that is not yet, but that when we close our eyes we hope maybe,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is on a two-day trip to India, said on Monday that the federal government in Washington is finalising necessary steps to remove barriers in India-United States civil nuclear cooperation to give fresh momentum to a landmark deal between the two countries.

“United States is now finalising the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India’s leading nuclear entities and US companies,” Mr Sullivan said in New Delhi on Monday.

New Delhi and Washington have been discussing the supply of US nuclear reactors to India since the mid-2000s.

The civil nuclear deal was signed in 2007 by then-President George W Bush, a major step toward allowing the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. The two countries agreed in 2019 to build six US nuclear power plants in India.

However, a longstanding obstacle in the corporation has been the need to bring Indian liability rules in line with global norms which require the costs of any accident to be channelled to the operator rather than the maker of a nuclear power plant.

India’s strict nuclear compensation laws have previously discouraged foreign power plant builders from cooperating with New Delhi, subsequently deferring its target to add 20,000 MW of nuclear power from 2020 to 2030.

Jake Sullivan is on a two-day visit to New Delhi, days before President-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in. His trip was the last high-profile visit to New Delhi by the outgoing Biden administration.

Washington expected the impact of Chinese upstream dams, artificial intelligence, space, military licensing and Chinese economic overcapacity to be discussed while Sullivan is in New Delhi, a US official told news agency Reuters. 

Earlier in the day, Mr Sullivan met India’s Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Delhi and discussed enhancing bilateral, regional and global cooperation.

After the meeting, Mr Jaishankar acknowledged Mr Sullivan’s “personal contribution” in strengthening the India-US partnership over the past four years.

“Delighted to meet US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in New Delhi today morning. Continued our ongoing discussions on deepening bilateral, regional and global cooperation. Valued the openness of our conversations in the last four years. Appreciated his personal contribution to forging a closer and stronger India-US partnership,” he wrote in a post on X ( previously Twitter)

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting, in New Delhi, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025
| Photo Credit: PTI

United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Monday (January 6, 2025) that the United States is finalising necessary steps to remove barriers in India-United States civil nuclear cooperation.

The United States is finalising steps to remove roadblocks to the civil nuclear partnership with Indian companies, he said during a visit a visit to New Delhi on Monday (January 6, 2024)

He said the formal paperwork for this will be done soon. The move will allow India access restricted technology in the US.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday (January 6, 2024) held talks with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, broadly reviewing the trajectory of India-US global strategic partnership in the last four years under the Biden administration.

Mr. Sullivan is on a visit to India two weeks ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the US.

In a post on X, Jaishankar complimented Sullivan for his “personal contribution” to forging a “closer and stronger” India-US partnership.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Outgoing U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to India January 5 and 6 to meet his counterpart Ajit K Doval and other top government officials for a final round of talks with them on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for them to wrap up, the White House said on Friday.

Mr. Sullivan, 48, the youngest national security advisor when President Joe Bident appointed him on January 20, 2021, would also deliver a major India-centric foreign policy speech at IIT, New Delhi during his last trip to India before leaving office. He would be succeeded by Congressman Michael Waltz on January 20, when Donald J Trump would be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

Opinion | From warp speed to reset, the state of India-U.S. ties 

While there, the main purpose will be a capstone engagement and dialogue with his counterpart, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call Friday afternoon.

It will cover a range of issues across the breadth of our partnership, but with a specific focus on the strategic technology cooperation that we have had across a range of domains, from defense to space to artificial intelligence, the official added.

“The two national security advisors during this engagement will not only take stock of the progress that we have made over the last four years, which has been a historic and transformative period in this relationship as well, but also continue to finalise some ongoing initiatives that were important priorities for us to wrap up to continue our technology cooperation through the end of the administration and to identify new opportunities that we hope with an upcoming team, will continue to take forward,” said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

From the views of the Biden administration, the U.S.-Indian relationship has not only been one of the bright points and a real foreign policy prairie and area of legacy achievement for the Biden administration, but it is also a relationship where they have seen continued bipartisan support and momentum from administration to administration in the United States, said the official.

Mr. Sullivan will deliver a speech at IIT Delhi, in which he will emphasise how India is central not only for U.S. priorities in the Indo-Pacific, but globally. “We see this as a partnership that is really not subject to huge partisan swings in the United States but has had a really enduring basis of support that we expect will continue to move forward,” said the official.

During the visit, he will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, as well as other Indian leaders. The U.S. delegation led by Mr. Sullivan will also have members from other government departments.

“While we are there, we will have the opportunity to meet with business leaders as well as young entrepreneurs in India, and really emphasise how much the progress that we have made in this relationship under the Biden administration is not only due to the work that has been done at a GOV to Gov level, but I think increasingly, due to the fantastic and strong relationships that exist at the people-to-people level, at company-to-company level, between the United States and India,” said the official.

“Overall, the message that we intend to leave with at the end of this trip is one of real gratitude for the friendship and the close partnership that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have enjoyed over the last four years, but also one of tremendous optimism because we see a lot of opportunity in the future for the things that we have started with over the last four years, whether that is commercial space cooperation, looking at opportunities in the future for civil nuclear cooperation, more cooperation on green energy technology.

“We think all of these are poised, really, for exponential growth in the future. We are really proud that the Biden administration has put down such a solid foundation and made further growth possible,” the official said.

A second senior administration official told reporters that for this particular trip, Mr. Sullivan will be taking up several issues.

First, advancing the civil nuclear partnership, looking at ways how they can advance cooperation around small modular reactor technology and other forms of civil nuclear cooperation. Second, addressing People’s Republic of China overcapacity, whether talking about legacy chips or biopharma supply chains, and also aligning strategies on ICTs risks and cyber focused technology protection measures, whether talking about connected vehicles or the just announced investigation into Chinese drones.

Also Read | EAM Jaishankar, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken review advancement of U.S.-India partnership

Third, discussions around artificial intelligence and national security following the conclusion of their own national security memorandum on AI and other regulations.

Fourth, promoting the new commercial space cooperation as the U.S. finalized amendments to its own Missile Technology Control Regime for licensing policies.

Fifth, unlocking funding for U.S. India R&D partnerships under the university based local challenges institute, the second official said.

Washington:

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with the United States National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

In a post on X, Mr Jaishankar said that the two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on the progress of the India-US strategic partnership and exchanged views on current regional and global developments.

“Good to meet US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in Washington D.C. this morning. A wide ranging discussion on the progress of India-US strategic partnership. Also exchanged views on current regional and global developments”, Mr Jaishankar wrote on X.

Good to meet US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in Washington D.C. this morning.

A wide ranging discussion on the progress of strategic partnership. Also exchanged views on current regional and global developments. pic.twitter.com/RtvTNAlHq7

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) December 26, 2024

As per a press release by the Ministry of External Affairs, S Jaishankar is visiting the United States of America from December 24 to December 29.

The External Affairs Minister will meet counterparts to discuss key
bilateral, regional and global issues. During the visit, Jaishankar will also chair a conference of the Consul Generals of India in the USA, the MEA noted in its press release.

The visit by the External Affairs Minister comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the US earlier in September and participated in the fourth Quad Leaders’ Summit in Wilmington, Delaware.

The US and India have seen frequent high-level interactions.
Earlier on Tuesday, senior diplomats from India and the United States, including Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma, highlighted the strengthening of bilateral ties between the two countries.

India-US bilateral relations have developed into a “global strategic partnership,” based on shared democratic values and increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional and global issues.
Regular exchange of high-level political visits has provided sustained momentum to bilateral cooperation, while the wide-ranging and ever-expanding dialogue architecture has established a long-term framework for India-US engagement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday spoke with Bangladesh interim government’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and both leaders expressed their commitment to respecting and protecting the human rights of all.

Sullivan also thanked Yunus for his leadership of Bangladesh during a challenging period, according to a press release issued by the US government.

It said that both leaders expressed their commitment to respecting and protecting the human rights of all people, regardless of religion.

Sullivan also reiterated the US support for a prosperous, stable, and democratic Bangladesh, and offered his country’s continued support in meeting the challenges that the South Asian nation faces.

Yunus, 84, was sworn in as the chief adviser of Bangladesh on August 8, three days after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India in the face of a massive anti-government protest.

There have been a spate of incidents of violence against Hindus and other minorities, as well as attacks on temples in Bangladesh after the fall of the Hasina government.

On December 13, the White House said that President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situation in Bangladesh and the US will hold the country’s interim government accountable for ensuring the protection of religious and ethnic minorities.

The security situation in Bangladesh has been difficult following the ouster of Hasina, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby had said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s interim government on Monday said it has sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking the extradition of Hasina from India, a move that may further strain the ties between the two countries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and US NSA Jake Sullivan during a meeting, in New Delhi, Monday, June 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Amidst tension between India and the U.S. over the alleged targeting of Sikh separatists by India, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke over the phone with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval during which they discussed regional security developments, bilateral issues including defence cooperation.

The two leaders also discussed the need for further efforts to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific region and globally, the White House said on Wednesday (October 31, 2024) in a readout of the call.

“They welcomed progress in the bilateral partnership, including through the upcoming Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) Intersessional and Indian Ocean Dialogue. They also discussed further opportunities for closer collaboration in key domains, including clean energy supply chains and defence cooperation, it said.

The two leaders spoke over the phone on Wednesday.

“They also discussed further opportunities for closer collaboration in key domains, including clean energy supply chains and defence cooperation,” said the White House.

Early this week, the U.S. had said that Canada’s allegations against Union Home Minister Amit Shah are “concerning”.

“The allegations made by the government of Canada are concerning, and we will continue to consult with the Canadian government about those allegations,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Thursday.

Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison had “confirmed” a leaked Washington Post report alleging that Mr. Shah was behind a campaign to target Khalistani separatists in Canada.

In response to a question Mr. Morrison said he had “confirmed” Mr. Shah’s name to The Washington Post.

“The journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” he said.

The United States also said that it welcomes any reduction in tension along the India-China border and noted that it has been briefed by New Delhi on this.

“We are closely following the developments [between India and China]. We understand that both countries have taken initial steps to withdraw troops from friction points along the Line of Actual Control. We welcome any reduction in tensions along the border,” Mr. Miller said.

Responding to a question, Mr. Miller said that the U.S. has played no role in this. “We have talked to our Indian partners and been briefed on it, but we did not play any role in this resolution,” Mr. Miller said.

In an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine in October 2023, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan wrote, “…Although the Middle East remains beset with perennial challenges, the region is quieter than it has been for decades… The Israeli-Palestinian situation is tense, particularly in the West Bank, but in the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated crises in Gaza.” A few days after the piece was sent to press, on October 7, Hamas launched its deadliest attack in Israel, killing at least 1,200 people and taking some 250 people hostage, triggering the latest spell of war in the Israel-Palestine conflict. A year later, West Asia (or the Middle East, as Mr. Sullivan calls it) is deadlier today than it has been in decades.

Mr. Sullivan’s October 2023 prognosis was not entirely unfounded if the region is seen from an American perspective. The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 by Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco, announced a new age of Arab-Israel partnership. Saudi Arabia was in an advanced stage of normalising ties with Israel, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself put it. At the G20 Summit in Delhi in September 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an ambitious economic corridor that sought to connect India’s western coast to Europe through the Persian Gulf, Jordan, and Israel. But what Mr. Sullivan, the Arabs, and the Israelis overlooked was the Palestine question.

Two narratives

Israel believed that it had established a new status quo — occupation without consequences. The Arabs believed that the Palestine issue had lost its geopolitical currency and that they could go ahead with formalising their decades-long back-room relationship with Israel. The U.S. wanted to bring the Sunni Arabs and the Israelis, two pillars of its West Asia strategy, closer in its bid to reshape West Asia and isolate Iran. But by carrying out a murderous attack in Israel, Hamas not only torpedoed this status quo, but also triggered a chain of events that led to a wider regional conflict, reinforcing the old argument that there will not be peace and stability in West Asia unless the Palestine question is addressed.

But Israel has a different narrative. It has always sought to delink Palestinian militarism from its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Before October 7, Israel had been treating Palestinian violence as a security nuisance. But after the Hamas attack, the first large-scale one in Israel proper since 1948, the narrative shifted. Now, Israel is fighting an “existential war” against terror. Israel marched to Gaza with fire and fury. Over the past 12 months, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have killed more than 41,000 Palestinians (more than 110 every day) and injured nearly 1,00,000 Palestinians. Nearly the whole population of Gaza (2.3 million) has been displaced.

Three-tier war

As the onslaught on Gaza began, Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia group, opened a “support front” in Israel’s north. Israel expanded the war, defying pressure from the U.S., by doubling down on its assault on Hezbollah and taking the war to Iran by attacking its embassy complex in Damascus. In retaliation, Iran launched direct attacks against Israel. Now, Israel is fighting a three-tier regional war in West Asia.

Israel has different objectives at each tier, which collectively make for its strategy to alter the balance of power in West Asia to further its advantage. At the bottom tier, Israel went to Gaza with two declared objectives — to destroy Hamas and secure the release of hostages. In the middle, it wants to push Hezbollah from the border region of Lebanon and stop the Shia militia from launching rockets into Israel so that the displaced residents of the Upper Galilee region can return to their homes. At the top, it wants to weaken Iran, its main regional rival. Israel sees the conflict, as the former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett put it, as a war against a rival octopus. Iran is the head of the octopus and the militias (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Hashad al-Shabi, etc.) are the tentacles. In the three-tier war, Israel wants to destroy or degrade the tentacles and weaken the octopus and thereby reshape West Asia. Is this an achievable goal?

After 12 months of fighting in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 and has been besieged by Israel since October 7, 2023, Israel is yet to meet its objectives in the 365 sq. km enclave, sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and Israel proper. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to obliterate Hamas, but now even the IDF says this is not an achievable objective. More than 100 hostages, many of them believed to be dead, are still in Hamas’s captivity. Hezbollah says it will not stop firing rockets into Israel unless Israel ceases fire in Gaza. Israel cannot do this unless it meets its goals in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu chose to expand the war to Lebanon not because he is achieveing his objectives, but because he is far from doing so. Granted that Israel’s back-to-back attacks on Hezbollah, including its killing of Hassan Nasrallah, perhaps the second most influential figure in Iran’s axis after Ayatollah Khamenei, was a huge setback for both Hezbollah and Iran. When Hezbollah was in shock after the killing of its leader, Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon. Here, Israel faces two questions. First, will the decapitation of Hezbollah’s leadership help Israel finish the war in Gaza? Second, will the decapitation of Hezbollah’s leadership help Israel defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon? The answer to the first question is an outright no. The second question will be answered in the coming weeks, months, or years.

History suggests decapitation hardly works in destroying or deterring militias. Nasrallah took over Hezbollah after Israel killed the group’s co-founder, Abbas al-Musawi. That did not stop Hezbollah from becoming what it is today: the most powerful non-state militia in the region. Israel killed two of Hamas’s founding leaders in 2004. But that did not stop Hamas from driving the Israelis out of the enclave in 2005, capturing the territory in 2007, and carrying out the cross-border attack on October 7 last year. If Israel has not destroyed Hamas in the besieged Gaza in 12 months, how is it going to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets from Lebanon? After Nasrallah was killed, Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets into Israel.

The Iran question

This takes us to the third problem: Iran. The IDF has great firepower. Israel has proved in the past that it can carry out pinpointed attacks inside Iran, which shows the deep penetration of its intelligence in the Islamic Republic. Israel is set to carry out a decisive attack in Iran, in retaliation for the October 1 ballistic missile attacks by the Iranians. But will that deter Iran from launching another attack or supporting the axis? If it doesn’t, what Israel, Iran, and the region as a whole will get is a shooting match between the two most powerful actors of West Asia. If Iran’s already porous deterrence is weakened further in the shooting match, there is a high possibility that Iran will change its nuclear doctrine. Israel does not have a clear endgame vis-à-vis Iran, unless there is a regime change in Tehran.

This is a conflict loop where no side is deterring its rival. With no way to break out of the loop, Israel chose to climb up the escalation ladder. To dial down the heat in the region, there has to first be a ceasefire in Gaza. For long-term stability, the Palestine question needs to be addressed. Israel is ready for neither at this point. Instead, it is seeking to reshape West Asia in its favour. The last time a country tried to do so was the U.S. And the world’s most powerful nation failed.

stanly.johny@thehindu.co.in

Washington:

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar held a “productive” meeting with US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan on Wednesday.

The EAM also met Philip Gordon, the NSA to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for President. He is among those mentioned as Harris’ NSA if she wins.

“As always, a productive conversation on bilateral cooperation and good insights into global politics,” EAM Jaishankar wrote on X about his meeting with Sullivan.

A White House readout is awaited.

“Appreciated the conversation on our bilateral ties and various global developments,” the EAM wrote in a separate post on X after his meeting with Gordon.

Good to see @PhilGordon46 during my Washington visit.

Appreciated the conversation on our bilateral ties and various global developments.

pic.twitter.com/Y3WNyCnwu6

— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) October 2, 2024

Gordon had a longer post on the meeting. “Great to meet this week with Minister @DrSJaishankar of India. We took stock of important progress in the U.S.-India relationship, including our growing defense and technology cooperation. We also discussed regional security issues in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe.”

EAM Jaishankar has held a series of meetings with top officials of the Biden administration in Washington after addressing the UN General Assembly in New York. On Tuesday, he met Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

About the EAM’s meeting with Blinken, the State Department had said that they discussed the two countries’ “enduring commitment to deepening bilateral ties, coordinating closely on regional and global challenges, and advancing cooperation on critical and emerging technologies”.

Secretary Blinken “noted” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s August visit to Kyiv and “reiterated the importance of a just and lasting peace for Ukraine”, the Statement Department had said.

India has been talking with Moscow and Kyiv in an effort to keep the lines of communication between them open. Although New Delhi has sought to underplay its role, its efforts are attracting attention and generating interest as the only country with the ability to talk to both parties in the conflict.

They also discussed plans to expand collaboration on clean energy initiatives to address the global climate crisis.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, second from right, holds a meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, second from left. during a meeting at the Bayi building in Beijing, on August 29, 2024
| Photo Credit: AP

United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Thursday (August 29, 2024) with a top Chinese military official as the two countries strengthen communication in an effort to prevent differences over the South China Sea and Taiwan from spiralling into conflict.

The meeting came one day after the White House said that both countries would plan for a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden in the coming weeks.

Mr. Sullivan was wrapping up a three-day trip to China, his first as national security adviser and one aimed at stabilising bilateral relations to avoid conflict.

His main talks were held over the past day and a half with Wang Yi, the foreign minister and the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy official.

The meeting Thursday was with Gen. Zhang Youxia, one of two vice chairs of the Central Military Commission, an organisation that Xi personally heads. It was a rare meeting with a US official that came at a time when both sides are eager to keep relations on an even keel ahead of a change in the US presidency in January.

“Your request to meet with me shows the value you attach to military security and the relationship between our militaries,” Zhang told Sullivan in opening remarks.

A White House statement after the talks said the two had “recognised the progress in sustained, regular military-military communications over the past ten months” and noted the agreement announced Wednesday to hold a telephone call between commanders at the theatre-level in the near future.

China suspended communication between the two militaries and in a few other fields after a senior US lawmaker, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Talks were only gradually resumed more than a year later, after Xi and Biden met outside San Francisco in November.

A theatre-level call would be between Adm. Samuel Paparo, who heads the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, and his Chinese counterpart, said Danny Russel, a vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York.

“This theatre command-level dialogue is critical for crisis prevention but something the Chinese military has been resisting,” Russel said.

A White House statement after talks with Wang concluded Wednesday said both sides would keep lines of communication open, including planning for a “leader-level call” in the coming weeks. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang and Sullivan discussed “a new round of interactions between the two countries’ heads of state to take place in the near future.”

There was no indication whether the two leaders might meet in person before Biden leaves the Oval Office.