National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan traveled to China on Tuesday, which isn't really all that unusual. He had meetings scheduled with Wang Yi, China's top diplomat, as well as Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission. Considering that he is purportedly there to discuss trade and technology, those types of meetings are to be expected. But Sullivan added another item to his dance card this morning when he met directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The conversation reportedly contained some hopeful tones about future cooperation between our two nations, but Xi also seemed to be cautiously issuing a warning to the United States. Xi expressed his hope that Washington will find "a right way" to get along with Beijing while figuring out how to maintain a "healthy and sustainable" relationship. We might infer from that comment that he doesn't consider the current situation to be either. (CNBC)

Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting Thursday that Beijing hopes Washington will find "a right way" to get along.

"While great changes have taken place in the two countries and in China-U.S. relations, China's commitment to the goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged," Xi said, according to an English-language release shared by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tensions between the world's two largest economies have escalated in recent years, spilling over from trade into finance and technology.

It's fair to ask how we wound up in a situation where a world leader like Xi Jinping is having a meeting with the American President's national security adviser. World leaders typically engage in peer-to-peer meetings, or at least something close to it. If we were sending the Secretary of State over there and he took a meeting with Xi, that wouldn't really be too much of a breach of protocol. In more normal times, if the President is unavailable, the Vice President is supposed to be able to fill in. But Kamala Harris is busy on the campaign trail this week and God only knows what would happen if they put her in a room with Xi. She would probably begin either cackling or breaking out some Venn diagrams. Xi might wind up invading Taiwan just to make her go away.

Perhaps the best answer to the question, "Why Jake Sullivan" might be... why not? After all, somebody has to do it. China is one of the main economic and military players on the planet and the situation between our two countries is rather tense at the moment. As we discussed yesterday, Joe Biden has effectively disappeared from view. He is in the middle of a three-week vacation stint with essentially nothing on his calendar and even his Press Secretary is missing in action. Somebody has to deal with Xi, Kim Jong-un, Putin, and the Mullahs in Iran. Once you remove Biden and Harris from the picture, the pickings become rather slim. 

Speaking of which, Xi immediately released the excerpts of the meeting to state television in China knowing that the story would be picked up in the international press, including in the United States. Was that some sort of subtle message to Kamala Harris in case she wins the election? Or might Donald Trump have been the intended recipient? Suggesting that our two nations find "a right way" to get along could suggest some sort of return to normalcy in terms of trade and a lowering of tensions militarily, which wouldn't be the worst news in the world at the moment. But you'll notice that Xi wasn't putting anything on the table himself, such as a commitment to hold off on a possible invasion of Taiwan. There was no discussion (that we know of) about finding a more balanced interface in terms of computer technology or rare earth metals. This sounds more like a "my way or the highway" situation. Donald Trump managed to ride herd over our relationship with China while he was in office and he could likely manage it again. What Kamala Harris might do is unknown since all of her policy plans remain locked up in a top-secret file somewhere in her campaign headquarters.