US NSA Sullivan to visit China next week; discuss Taiwan, fentanyl issue

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will be travelling to China next week to hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the White House said in a statement.

During his visit from August 27-29, Sullivan will discuss issues ranging from Taiwan to bilateral military talks and the US fentanyl crisis, as well as China's support for Russia's defence industry and tensions in the South China Sea, North Korea, the Middle East and Myanmar, a senior US administration official told reporters via teleconference.

The senior administration official said Sullivan's visit should not be associated too closely with the election.

"That's not the point. We've tried to do these Wang Yi-Jake Sullivan touch points about once a quarter," he said.

"(The election) is always in the background in any engagement we have with foreign officials concerned about what comes next or what the transition will be like, but this meeting will be focused on the topics and the issues that we are dealing with," the official added.

Sullivan, during his visit, would push for a resumption of theatre-level military-to-military talks with China, and is also likely to raise the US's concerns about China's "increased military, diplomatic and economic pressure against Taiwan."

Notably, China-US relations have been turbulent in recent years. The two countries have sparred over their economic ambitions, and incidents like the US downing of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year further inflamed tensions, Al Jazeera reported.

Notably, this is the first visit by a US national security adviser since 2016, though other senior US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have visited China over the past two years.

Sullivan's visit comes within months of the US's general election in November, in which Vice President Kamala Harris is running to succeed outgoing president Joe Biden.

If she wins, Harris is expected to continue to seek dialogue with China while also maintaining pressure. Meanwhile, her Republican rival Donald Trump has vowed to pursue a harder line with China, with some of his aides seeing a far-reaching global showdown ahead, as reported by Al Jazeera.