Sullivan promotes Harris in meeting with Chinese leaders as Beijing visit concludes

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sought to assure China’s top leaders of U.S. policy continuity if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected president, wrapping up an unusually long three-day stay in Beijing for President Biden’s senior security aide.

Mr. Sullivan, making his first trip to Beijing since Mr. Biden was elected, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, hours after talks with a key Chinese general and in advance of a direct phone call between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden. The call, expected in the coming weeks, would be the first direct conversation between the two leaders in more than four months.

“Vice President Harris has been a central member of the Biden foreign policy team, a leading member, and has been part of the design and execution of the overall strategy in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters in Beijing after his meeting with Mr. Xi.

Mr. Sullivan declined to say what questions Chinese officials had regarding Ms. Harris during the meetings noting that “they’ll have to speak for themselves on that.” U.S.-China tensions were often high under both Mr. Biden and former President Donald Trump, who is the Republican presidential nominee.

The presidential election is recognized by Chinese leaders as a “sensitive period” and that transitions to a new administration also are sensitive and require “responsible management” of U.S.-China relations, Mr. Sullivan said.

China’s Foreign Ministry, in its own readout of the talks, said Mr. Xi pointedly argued that China’s policy toward the U.S. had been “highly consistent.”

“While great changes have taken place in the two countries and in China-U.S. relations, China’s commitment to the goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged,” Mr. Xi reportedly told Mr. Sullivan.

The White House adviser said Ms. Harris has had the opportunity to engage with Mr. Xi and Chinese Premier Li Qiang and “shares President Biden’s view that responsibly managing this competition so it doesn’t veer into conflict or confrontation is essential.”

“So, I was able to share my experience, my perspective of working closely with the vice president, and the role that she has played over the course of the past four years,” he said.

Mr. Sullivan said he also raised concerns that China will seek to influence the U.S. elections during his three days of talks.

China has sought to avoid commenting on the U.S. presidential election and has not expressed a view on whether the nation favors Ms. Harris or Mr. Trump. U.S. intelligence officials say China’s efforts in cyberspace to interfere in the election have been far more modest than those of Russia and Iran.

To China’s frustration, the Biden administration has kept in place much of the Trump administration’s tough economic and trade agenda against Beijing, leaving in place high tariffs on Chinese goods and adopting policies China says are designed to stifle its companies dealing in such key technologies such as computer chips, artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.

Mr. Biden himself ditched the customary “strategic ambiguity” surrounding U.S. policy toward Taiwan, stating for the first time unequivocally and repeatedly that U.S. forces would respond if China launched a military operation to take over the island.

In one key meeting, China’s most senior general warned Mr. Sullivan that China will “reunify” Taiwan and that the standoff across the Taiwan Strait remains a core issue for the Chinese military.

Gen. Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Chinese Communist Party’s organ in charge of the military, confronted Mr. Sullivan regarding stepped up U.S. military support to Taiwan.

The Chinese Defense Ministry said Gen. Zhang told Mr. Sullivan that the Taiwan standoff is a “red line that should not be crossed.”

“China demands that the U.S. stop its military collaboration with Taiwan, stop arming and spreading false narratives related to the island,” the statement said.

Both sides said progress was made during Mr. Sullivan’s visit toward stabilizing relations that remain tense of Taiwan, China-Philippines confrontations in the South China, Beijing’s technology theft and U.S. restrictions on sales of advanced microchips to China.

On the South China Sea, where Chinese coast guard ships have clashed with and fired water cannon at Philippines vessels near disputed shoals, Mr. Sullivan said no specific agreements were reached during the talks.

“But we did indicate and reiterate our long-standing commitment to our ally and our long-standing commitment to the rule of law, freedom of navigation and the free exercise of maritime rights in the South China Sea, and we’ll continue to do that,” he said.

Mr. Sullivan said he also pressed the Chinese to halt the military support to Russia for its war against Ukraine. U.S. officials say China has so far not sold military arms to its ally in Moscow, but complain that surging two-way China-Russia trade includes many items that have bolstered Russia’s defense industry in the fight.

In addition to the general and Mr. Xi, the talks included meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The White House described the meetings in a statement as “candid, substantive, and constructive” touching on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

The meeting was part of the renewed engagement by the Biden administration following the summit between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi in California in November designed to lower tensions after a particularly rough patch in the bilateral relationship.

The U.S. side also sought to promote greater military-to-military exchanges, including discussions between Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the Indo-Pacific Command and two regional Chinese commanders in charge of forces near Taiwan.

China for several years has declined to hold talks between the commanders, in part to protest a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022, the highest-level U.S. official to visit the island democracy in a quarter-century.

“We hope that the U.S. will work with China towards the same goal, view China and its development in a positive and rational manner, see each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a challenge, and work with China to find a correct way for the two major countries to get along,” Mr. Xi was quoted as saying in state media.

While Mr. Biden faces bipartisan pressure in Congress to take a tough stand against China, Mr. Sullivan said Thursday one message he delivered during his three days in Beijing was that conflict between the U.S. and China was not inevitable.

“The United States, has, and will continue to advance its interests and values and look out for its friends, …[but] we believe that competition with China does not have to lead to conflict or confrontation,” he told reporters at the end of his visit.

• Andrew Salmon contributed to this report from Seoul.