US Security Advisor Sullivan arrives at meeting venue for talks with Xi

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday afternoon to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a three-day visit to China. He is the first U.S. national security advisor to visit China since 2016.

Sullivan was invited by Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, for strategic communication between China and the United States.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, in an interview with China Media Group (CMG), elaborated on why he called his country "an insider on the outside" of the European Union (EU).

Store was speaking with the CMG on a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai on Tuesday, part of his three-day official visit to China.

"We've had two referendums about joining the European Union and both ended up 52 to 48 against and that we have to respect. But you know, most of our trade is with the European Union. So it's in my interest to have a good relationship, a trusted relationship, and in that sense, to be on the inside. And then, beyond this market, you know, these are our neighbors, Nordic neighbors - Sweden, Finland and Denmark. These are our European partners. So on a number of other issues linked to security and research and all the other issues beyond trade, these are our closest friends. So that's why I say, you know, I'm very much on the inside, although I'm a member from the outside," he said.

Norway, as a member state of the European Economic Area, was the EU's sixth most important partner for trade in goods in 2023, with exports to the bloc reaching 119.2 billion euros and imports amounting to 61.7 billion euros.

Norway is the biggest exporter of fish and aquaculture products to the EU.