Biden aide held hours of ‘constructive’ talks with Chinese diplomat.

Beijing and Washington announced Sunday that White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta for hours this weekend to improve relations.

On Sunday, the White House and Chinese foreign ministry said the Sept. 16-17 sessions were “candid, substantive and constructive” talks.

A senior Biden administration official said there were “limited” early signals that military communications between the two sides may resume.

Chinese officials did not discuss military-to-military communication.

Sullivan’s meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials that could lead to a meeting between Biden and Jinping later this year.

Their presence comes amid a series of top-level Chinese government changes, including the disappearance of Defense Minister Li Shangfu and economic wobbles that have alarmed foreign capitals.

One senior Biden administration official told reporters that the Malta talks lasted 12 hours over two days. Sullivan last saw Wang in May in Vienna.

China’s foreign ministry said both parties agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and confer on Asia-Pacific, maritime, and foreign policy.

The U.S. official said the U.S. told China it was ready to work together on counter-narcotics, artificial intelligence, and climate change despite concerns over unspecified Chinese support for Russia and Beijing sending fighter jets across the Taiwan Strait median line.

Wang warned the U.S. that Taiwan is the “first insurmountable red line of Sino-U.S. relations,” the Chinese foreign ministry said. China claims the self-ruled island.

Wang also stated that China’s “strong internal momentum” and “Chinese people’s legitimate right to development cannot be deprived.”

China claimed that the U.S. has suppressed and contained its expansion despite inviting healthy competition based on fair norms that benefit both countries.

The U.S. official said “there have been some small or limited indications” that Beijing is ready to reopen some cross-military communications used to de-escalate conflict after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Aug. 2022 visit to Taiwan enraged China.

The White House said both sides “committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level engagement and consultations in key areas… in the coming months.”

Biden lamented that Xi skipped a Group of 20 summit in India this month, but he would “get to see him.” Xi and Biden may meet during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco in November, something U.S. aides have hoped for months.

After the U.S. military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over the U.S., Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Biden climate envoy John Kerry visited China this year to resolve tensions and maintain communication.

Biden and Xi last met in 2022 in Bali as part of a G20 summit.