China says talks with US in Bangkok 'candid, substantive'
China on Saturday said that top diplomat Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held «candid, substantive and fruitful» talks in Thailand's capital Bangkok, where issues including Taiwan were discussed.
Beijing and Washington have clashed in recent years on flashpoint issues from technology and trade to human rights, as well as over the self-ruled island and competing claims in the South China Sea.
In a bid to improve some of the worst relations in decades, US President Joe Biden met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November for talks that both sides described as a qualified success.
Wang and Sullivan «had candid, substantive and fruitful strategic communication on implementing the consensus reached at the San Francisco meeting… and on properly handling important and sensitive issues in China-US relations», a statement on China's foreign ministry website released Saturday evening said.
The topics discussed in the two-day talks included Taiwan, which held elections this month.
In the run-up to the poll, Chinese officials slammed president-elect Lai Ching-te as a dangerous separatist who would take Taiwan down the «evil path» of independence.
But Washington congratulated Lai, with Beijing saying it «strongly deplored» the statement.
During the latest talks, Wang stressed that Taiwan was «China's internal affair, and the regional election in Taiwan cannot change the basic reality that Taiwan is part of China», according to Saturday's statement.
«The biggest risk to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is the so-called 'Taiwan independence' movement. The biggest challenge to China-US relations is also the 'Taiwan
