Malta hosts talks between Washington and Beijing amid conflict-prevention strategy

In recent days, Malta has hosted talks between Jake Sullivan, the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden and Wang Yi, the People’s Republic of China’s Foreign Minister.

Foreign media reports stated that the discussions that took place were “candid, substantive and constructive.” These discussions took place in an ongoing process to stabilise “rocky relations” and improve relations between Chinese and American administrations ahead of a potential meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. However, a senior Biden administration official stated that there are no announcements with regards to a possible meeting between the two leaders. Despite so, the officer noted that “Biden hopes to meet with Xi soon.”

Mr Wang and Mr Sullivan’s meeting follows many attempts by Beijing and Washington to restore and strengthen the communication between the two global economic powers, in order to avoid a full-blown conflict or further deterioration in the relationship of the two countries.

During these two days, a meeting between Prime Minister Robert Abela and Jake Sullivan was also held in which both sides highlighted that the stability of the Mediterranean region is of paramount importance for global peace and security.

Dr Abela underlined the importance of global peace “as a fundamental prerequisite for a prosperous world where the quality of life for people and communities enables nations to cooperate and address global challenges.”

In a statement, the government highlighted that this weekend’s hosting of these discussions by Malta “reaffirms the country’s longstanding role as a natural and safe place for holding high-level diplomatic discussions. When called upon like these past days, Malta will continue to give its part to facilitate more open channels of communications in line with its longstanding position of advocating for a more just, peaceful and prosperous future.”