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| Susan Rice (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Zachary Keck
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice will make her first trip to China since assuming her current position.
U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice will visit China for three days starting September 7, the White House announced earlier this week.
The U.S. announced Rice’s upcoming trip in a press release attributed to National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden. Hayden said in the release that Rice would be in Beijing from September 7-9, and would meet with senior Chinese officials, including State Councilor Yang Jiechi. In these meetings, Rice plans to consult with her Chinese counterparts “on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues.” Hayden added that Rice intends to “underscore the United States’ commitment to building a productive relationship between our two countries in advance of the President’s visit to China in November.”
This will be Rice’s first visit to China since becoming Obama’s national security advisor in 2013. Chinese officials confirmed the trip and said that Rice was visiting at the invitation of State Councilor Yang.
The main purpose of Rice’s visit is likely to be hammering out the details of the bilateral summit Presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama are planning to hold in China in November after the APEC meeting. The Sino-American presidential meeting is expected to be informal, the successor to the Sunnylands summit they held in the United States last spring.
Read the full story at The Diplomat