US, China agree to expand military talks, advance Al ties

Both sides discuss possible Xi-Biden call but disputes over core issues remain

- Lim Min Zhang

China Correspondent BEIJING The US and China have agreed to expand military-to-military contact and hold a second round of talks on artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, even as disagreements on core issues remain.

A possible call between US President Joe Biden and his counterpart Xi Jinping "in the coming weeks" was also discussed between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat Wang Yi at their two-day talks in Beijing which ended on Aug 28.

Both sides agreed to maintain high-level exchanges, while continuing to cooperate in areas such as drug control, law enforcement, climate change and the repatriation of illegal immigrants, according to official statements from both sides.

Mr Sullivan's visit was the fourth of such strategic talks between the two leaders since May 2023, when they met in Vienna to lay the groundwork for the first of a series of top-level bilateral meetings that restored a measure of stability to the bilateral relationship.

Both superpowers are locked in a competitive relationship over issues including technological sanctions, Taiwan, brewing tensions in the South China Sea and China's support for Russia in the Ukraine war.

These were all issues that reflected deep-seated differences, with no immediate resolutions, and meant that expectations for any breakthroughs going into the meeting were low.