On Thursday, August 29th, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan concluded his first visit to China. The White House stated that the meeting was part of ongoing efforts to “maintain communication channels” and “responsibly” handle the US-China relationship.
Sullivan’s visit to China was not the highest level of talks, but it attracted considerable attention against the backdrop of increasing tension and confrontation between the US and China, particularly as Sullivan led a delegation where “almost everyone speaks Chinese”.
This marked Sullivan’s fifth meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Previously, Sullivan and Wang had held high-level diplomatic meetings in Vienna in May 2023, Malta in September 2023, Washington in October 2023, and Bangkok in January 2024.
According to Reuters, Sullivan and Wang held their talks at Yanqi Lake, a resort in the outskirts of Beijing. A notable difference in this meeting was the presence of three new faces in the US delegation.
According to official Chinese media reports, one of them is Diana Chu Partridge, Director for China Affairs at The National Security Council (NSC), who previously served as a political officer at the US Embassy in China. Partridge has worked in China for many years, engaging with Chinese officials and scholars on US-China relations.
The other two are Joy Li, NSC Director of Strategic Planning, and Nicole Fasano, NSC National Security Policy Advisor.
As per Joy Li’s profile on LinkedIn, she studied Chinese at Beijing Normal University during her undergraduate years at Princeton University in 2008. Li also interned at the Office of the US Trade Representative for three months in 2015 during her graduate studies at Harvard University.
Fasano’s resume indicates that she minored in Chinese Language and Literature at George Washington University during her undergraduate studies, and she also undertook a short-term Chinese language course at East China University in Shanghai. Her Mandarin proficiency has reached a professional level.
The two key figures from the US delegation who participated in the strategic talks held in Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok were also present at this meeting: Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the NSC Sarah Beran.
Public records show that Kritenbrink is fluent in Chinese and Japanese, having served as a political officer at the US Embassy in China from 2006 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2015.
During Sullivan’s meeting with Wang, Beran sat on Sullivan’s left side, and she can speak Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish.
The South China Morning Post quoted Sullivan as saying that many members of his team in Beijing are fluent in Mandarin and have “deep experience” on issues related to China and US-China relations, making his work much easier.
Reuters cited a senior official from the US National Security Council who stated, “US diplomatic and communication channels do not indicate a change in attitude toward China (the CCP). This is a fierce competitive relationship. We are committed to responsibly managing this competition and preventing it from escalating into conflict.”