Taiwan issue biggest threat to China-U.S. ties, Wang says

BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan held candid talks in Bangkok aimed at keeping in contact, both sides said, with Wang stressing that "Taiwan independence" posed the biggest risk to Sino-U.S. ties.

The meeting came just over two months after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

China and the United States had a rocky start to 2023 but met more often in the second half of the year to try to stabilize ties ahead of democratic Taiwan's presidential transition in May and a potentially caustic 2024 U.S. election campaign.

China's struggling economy may also dampen Beijing's appetite for what had been more combative ties with Washington amid improving Chinese relations with Russia.

Wang and Sullivan agreed to properly handle important and sensitive issues in U.S.-China relations, China's foreign ministry said, and for Xi and Biden to "maintain regular contact to provide strategic guidance for bilateral relations ... and make good use of the current strategic communication channels."

The White House in a statement said both Wang and Sullivan recognized recent progress in resuming military-to-military communication and the importance of maintaining those channels. Sullivan also "underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the statement said.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it detected 11 Chinese military planes crossing the Taiwan Strait's median line in the past 24 hours. The ministry on Friday reported 23 Chinese air force planes operating around Taiwan, carrying out "joint combat readiness patrols" with