FT: Top US Spy Secretly Visited China

By Staff, Agencies

The Financial Times unveiled on Friday that US President Joe Biden dispatched CIA Director William Burns to Beijing last month to meet with Chinese intelligence officials.

The outlet described Burns as “one of [Biden’s] most trusted officials” and claimed the visit showed “how concerned the White House had become about deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington.”

While neither the White House nor the CIA have officially confirmed the visit, the FT relied on “five people familiar with the situation.” One of them, identified only as a US official, said that Burns “met with Chinese counterparts and emphasized the importance of maintaining open lines of communications in intelligence channels.”

It was not clear whether Burns traveled to Beijing before or after the May 10 meeting between Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and China’s highest-ranking diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna. The White House announced the meeting only after it had ended.

However, the FT specified that the CIA director visited China before the May 19 G7 summit in Hiroshima, at which Biden made a cryptic comment about expecting an immediate “thaw” in Sino-US relations.