Monday’s Luxembourg discussions between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and State Councillor Yang Jiechi show how much importance both sides attach to the world’s most consequential bilateral ties.

It was the fourth actual meeting between US-China officials in fifteen months and started with a May 18 phone call.

Sullivan, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yang, alongside Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, first met in Alaska in March last year. Previous Sullivan-Yang talks prefaced dialogue between Biden and Xi.

A month after Sullivan and Yang met in Switzerland in October 2021, the leaders of the world’s top superpowers held a virtual conversation. They also had a video call in March this year, four days after a seven hour Sullivan-Yang meeting in Rome.

So far, with the exception of Alaska, all physical meetings between the two high-ranking officials have taken place in Europe.

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As both leaders may use the occasion to project resolve and burnish their appeal among their constituencies, the agenda and optics are critical. Preparing for such a meeting will keep diplomats, security and economic officials from both camps busy in the coming months.

The US readout of the Yang-Sullivan meeting in Luxembourg was brief and short on specifics but described the event as “candid, substantive, and productive”. The Chinese readout was longer, stating the key points made by Yang during the interaction.

It was likewise billed as “candid, in-depth and constructive”. Both sides stressed the value of keeping communication channels open.

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This latest meeting between Sullivan and Yang comes hot on the heels of Asia’s premier security summit, where American and Chinese defence chiefs traded barbs.

Wei called out the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy as an “attempt to build an exclusive small group” that “targets one specific country,” adding that such an approach “creates conflict and confrontation” as it aims to “contain and encircle others”.

Washington, on the other hand, railed against unilateral attempts to change the status quo through intimidation and coercion in flashpoints like the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

Austin also underscored the challenges posed by Chinese activities such as intensive fishing in the exclusive economic zones of its coastal neighbours and so-called grey zone tactics – aggressive actions of its maritime militias, sometimes in conjunction with its coastguard, that are below the threshold of armed attack and upset normal marine economic activities and routine resupply missions. Austin pointed to close, unsafe sea and air encounters in the South China Sea as well.

The US contends that such behaviour undermines regional stability and established maritime rules.

Deep mistrust persists, especially in relation to Taiwan. Yang pointed out on Monday that the “Taiwan question concerns the political foundation of China-US relations, and if it is not handled properly, it will have a subversive impact”.

Beijing suspects US intentions, arguing that Washington uses the Taiwan ‘card’ to keep China in check and uses its domestic law – the Taiwan Relations Act – to justify intrusion into another country’s sovereign affairs.

Biden’s remarks in recent months that the US will intervene militarily in the East Asian hotspot should the mainland attack the island – seen as a sea change from a long-standing position of strategic ambiguity to clarity – has only added fuel to the fire. Austin, on the other hand, stressed in Singapore that the US is simply adjusting to Beijing’s “provocative and destabilising military activity near Taiwan”, including a record number of sorties.

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In his meeting in Luxembourg with Sullivan, Yang reiterated Biden’s message to Xi that China attaches great importance to, notably that the US “does not seek a new Cold War with China,” “does not aim to change China’s system”, that “the revitalisation of its alliances is not targeted at China”, that it does not support “Taiwan independence” and that it “has no intention” of seeking conflict with China.

Austin had echoed such assurances in Singapore, saying the US does not support Taiwan independence, but he was quick to qualify that the US does “stand firmly behind the principle that cross-strait differences must be resolved by peaceful means”.

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Wei, in response, had said that “peaceful reunification is the greatest wish of the Chinese people,” adding that China has “the utmost sincerity” and is “willing to make (the) greatest efforts to achieve that”.

The Biden administration’s “compete, cooperate and confront” posture against China elicits Chinese resistance.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Wei said “China opposes using competition to define the bilateral relations”. He said it would be “a historic and strategic mistake to insist on taking China as a threat and adversary or even an enemy”.

Yang, in Luxembourg, echoed that “China firmly opposes the definition of China-US relations by competition”.

“Big powers carry big responsibilities,” said Austin in Singapore, before noting that the US is committed to “fully open lines of communication with China’s defence leaders to ensure that we can avoid any miscalculations”.

With so much at stake, building ‘crash barriers’ against conflict is vital.