China, US top diplomats brace for the first meeting of 2022

Chinese top diplomat Yang Jiechi and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan are preparing for a crunch meeting on core national security concerns, per South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The news also mentioned sources familiar with the matter as saying, “But the two sides remain deeply divided on protocol and agenda items.”

The key US and Chinese representatives were to meet on January 10 but couldn’t due to the political rift among the world’s top two economies over boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, as well as a call by US lawmakers for the UN to publish a report on Xinjiang, the news mentions.

“The US wants to press Beijing over China’s nuclear build-up, while China believes Washington should take the initiative and reduce its vastly larger arsenal first,” said SCMP.

Other issues that could be discussed in the meeting are, “Taiwan, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, Xinjiang and Hong Kong,” per the news.

FX implications

The news should help the Antipodeans and commodities to keep the latest recovery moves.

Read: Forex Today: Dollar hit by poor employment figures