all right let me bring you some news that we've just received here in The Newsroom it's from China president Xi Jinping is currently meeting the US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan at the Great Hall of the people in Beijing now you may remember Mr Sullivan is on the third and final day of talks with top Chinese officials his trip to Beijing is seen as an effort to create more dialogue and reduce tensions between the two countries with the White House wanting to avoid any miscommunication that could lead to conflict in region high stakes there so on Wednesday Mr Sullivan met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to set up a call between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping the White House said both sides welcomed ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication including planning for a leader level call in the coming weeks on China's influence in the Indo Pacific region the White House said Mr Sullivan underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan straight well here's China correspondent Laura Bier to the National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's foreign minister Wang Yi the two have met on four other occasions this is the fifth time and they do seem able uh to talk for a very long time we're into our third day so we're expecting an update within the next couple of hours but the last update we did get did mention some progress first of all you've just mentioned that there will be a call between President Biden and presiden she in the coming weeks now what we are wondering is whether or not that will Le the groundwork for a final meeting between the two presidents before President Biden leaves office is this unfinished business for the White House and second the other kind of progress that seems to have been made is that Jake Sullivan has met for the first time since 2016 for any US National Security adviser he's met a top Chinese General um and they've had discussions about military to military communication that shows just how seriously both sides are taking this and that is because there are a number of flash points throughout the world including as you mentioned the Taiwan Street and the South China Sea and in those areas the Chinese and the Americans come very very close together what both sides fear is a miscommunication a miscalculation uh that could lead to conflict and that's what this is about this is about stopping this competition of the 21st century turning in to any kind of conflict Laura Bier there