Senior officials from the United States and China agreed to step up communications to help manage their differences following a meeting in New York on Thursday.
Chinese foreign vice-minister Ma Zhaoxu told US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau that the Taiwan question was “purely China’s internal affair”, while the American called for concrete efforts to tackle the fentanyl crisis and repatriate undocumented Chinese nationals.
“China urges the US to adhere to the one-China policy, honour its political commitments, and take real action to uphold peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Ma said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control. The US, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as independent. But Washington opposes any attempt to seize the island by force and is legally bound to supply it with weapons to defend itself.
The statement described the conversation as “candid, in-depth and constructive”, adding the two sides had agreed to “maintain dialogue, effectively manage differences and expand mutually beneficial cooperation”.
The US State Department said: “Deputy secretary Landau advocated for concrete action by China to halt the flow of fentanyl and its precursors into the United States and stressed the need for continued cooperation on the return of Chinese citizens who do not have a right to remain in the United States.”
The two sides also discussed global issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Haiti, it added.
The meeting marks a latest step to stabilise relations ahead of a possible meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump.
This week a US House of Representatives delegation made the first visit of its kind to China in six years, which Foreign Minister Wang Yi described as an “ice-breaking journey”.
Wang told the visitors China and the US were not “rivals” or “enemies” but rather “partners”, urging Washington to treasure the “stabilising trend” in relations and uphold its “political commitments” on Taiwan.
Last week, Trump and Xi spoke on the phone for nearly two hours, in a conversation Trump described as “very productive” and Beijing said was “pragmatic, positive and constructive”.
Trump has also posted on social media that the two leaders were looking forward to meeting at the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, which starts on October 31.
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