US officials revealed that CIA Director William Burns secretly visited China and met some of his counterparts in May.
"Director Burns went to Beijing last month and met with his Chinese counterparts, emphasizing the importance of maintaining channels of intelligence dialogue," a US official said on June 2.
However, the official declined to disclose details about the time of the visit and the identities of the Chinese officials that the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) met.
Previously, five sources said Mr. Burns went to China in May. One source confirmed that Mr. Burns did not participate in diplomatic work but only had contact with Chinese intelligence officials.
The White House and the CIA declined to comment on the Burns report to China. The CIA has a policy of not disclosing the work schedules of its leaders.
CIA Director William Burns speaking in Langley, Virginia, USA, July 7. Image: AFP
Burns spent many years in the diplomatic service before being appointed CIA director by President Joe Biden in March 3. He served as the US ambassador to Russia, then served as deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama.
According to American experts, Mr. Burns is knowledgeable about China, respected by politicians of both Democratic and Republican parties. According to Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China expert and a former White House adviser on Asia, CIA directors "often engage in covert diplomacy" with "the advantage of relationships in the intelligence industry built up." for several years".
The information that Mr. Burns visited China was revealed in the midst of a period when US-China relations have not improved significantly.
The Pentagon in late May announced that China had declined an invitation to a bilateral defense ministerial meeting in Singapore, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue 5.
China's Foreign Ministry said on May 31 that Defense Minister Li Shangfu could not accept a meeting with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin because Washington had not addressed Beijing's concerns.
Minister Austin on June 1 said that China's refusal to meet the invitation was "regrettable", especially in the context of the above event. He expressed concern that "at some point something will happen and can get out of control very quickly".
On the opening night of the 2023 Shangri-La Dialogue on the evening of June 2, Mr. Lee and Mr. Austin shook hands and had a brief exchange. The Pentagon described the exchange as having no significant implications.
Tensions between the US and China seriously deteriorated after the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island of Taiwan in August 8.
The two countries recorded optimism when Chinese President Xi Jinping met US President Joe Biden in Indonesia in November 11, on the sidelines of the G2022 Summit. However, the event that the US shot down a Chinese airship in February, due to its assessment that it was a military spy device, caused high-level dialogue between the two countries to freeze.
Name (Follow Reuters, AFP, Financial Times)
