2023-07-09 17:12:00
Yellen sees progress in relations with China and expects more contacts
After 10 hours of meetings over two days in Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Sunday, at the end of her four-day visit, that her meetings with senior Chinese officials were “direct” and “productive” and helped stabilize strained relations. mostly.
Yellen had gone to Beijing amid hopes that the United States would be able to resume a relationship that had been deteriorating for years, and which has recently become more tense.
Yellen said, before leaving at a press conference, that the United States and China are still at odds on a number of issues, but she expressed confidence that her visit strengthened American efforts to “put US-China relations on a more solid foundation.”
“There are major differences between the United States and China,” she added at the conference held at the US Embassy in Beijing, citing Washington’s concerns about what she described as “unfair economic practices” and recent punitive measures against US companies.
And she reaffirmed that “President (Joe) Biden and I do not see the relationship between the United States and China from the perspective of a great power struggle. We believe the world is big enough for our two countries to thrive.”
With US-China relations deteriorating over security issues, including Taiwan, a US embargo on high-tech exports and China’s state-led industrial policies, Washington is trying to mend relations between the world’s two largest economies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China last month, the first by the most senior US diplomat since Biden assumed the presidency, and US climate envoy John Kerry is also expected to visit China this month.
The US diplomatic effort comes ahead of a possible meeting between President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the G-20 summit in September in New Delhi or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting scheduled for November in San Francisco.
Yelin said the aim of her visit is to establish and deepen relations with China’s new economic team, reduce the risk of misunderstanding and pave the way for cooperation in such areas as climate change and the debt crisis.
She added, “I think we’ve made some progress, and we can have a healthy economic relationship that benefits us and the world,” noting that she expects more and more regular contacts.
She noted that Chinese officials had raised concerns about an expected executive order restricting foreign investment, but reassured them that any such measure would be narrow in scope and implemented in a transparent manner, through a decision-making process that allows for public opinion.
Yellen added that she had told Chinese officials that they could raise concerns about US actions, and that Washington would be willing to interpret them and “may in some situations address the unintended consequences of actions we have taken unless they are carefully directed.”
Disengagement would be disastrous
Yellen had met with officials, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China Pan Gongshen, whom she said was the governor of China’s central bank, in an apparent confirmation of his expected promotion.
She also met with US companies working in China and experts in climate finance and economics.
During her meetings with Chinese officials, Yellen urged greater cooperation between the two sides on economic and climate issues while criticizing what she described as China’s “punitive measures” against US companies.
She reaffirmed that Washington does not seek to disengage from the Chinese economy, due to “this having a catastrophic impact on the two countries and destabilizing the world.”
The United States imposed export restrictions aimed at limiting Beijing’s ability to obtain electronic chips, which Washington fears could be used in military applications, and is considering measures to limit US investment in sensitive areas in China.
But US lawmakers want stronger action. A bipartisan group has proposed giving the government sweeping powers to stop the flow of billions of dollars of US investment into China.
Yellen said she assured her Chinese counterparts that any investment restrictions “will be carefully targeted, clearly targeted, and limited to a few sectors where we have national security concerns.”
In response to a question about the plans of the BRICS member states, Brazil, India, Russia and China, to launch a new currency, Yellen said she expected the dollar to remain the dominant currency in international transactions.
Regarding Russia’s war on Ukraine, Yellen told Chinese journalists that it was “necessary” for Chinese companies to avoid providing tangible support to Moscow in its war or enabling it to evade sanctions.
Both sides played down their expectations of a breakthrough during the talks, while praising the opportunity for a direct diplomatic meeting between them.
“One visit will not solve the challenges we face overnight,” Yellen said. But I expect that this trip will open a flexible and constructive channel of communication.”
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