CHARLOTTE, N.C (TNS) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will hold two days of talks in San Francisco this week, a step toward more-normal ties ahead of a long-anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng — the nation’s top economic official — will meet on Nov. 9-10, the Treasury Department said in a statement Monday. That’s just before the U.S. hosts a week of gatherings in the California city that will bring together leaders and senior ministers from some 21 Pacific Rim economies, under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group.
The Yellen-He talks build on a series of visits and announcements between the two sides that have sought to re-establish diplomatic ties and resume dialogue on economic topics amid tensions on issues from U.S. export controls to Chinese military engagement in the South China Sea. China confirmed that He will visit the U.S. from Nov. 8-12.
Trips by Yellen and other U.S. officials to China this year, and last month’s visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, helped lay the groundwork for the expected meeting between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the upcoming APEC summit — their first one-on-one discussion in a year.
The Biden administration’s policy toward China is geared toward defending and securing national security while stressing that the U.S. isn’t trying to hold China back economically — a message that Chinese officials have criticized, given U.S. export controls enacted last year that are designed to deprive China of key technologies.
While the Biden approach is less combative than the Trump administration’s trade wars, it nevertheless marks a stark departure from the prior two decades of more-open economic relations. In fact, the Biden administration has kept former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, and there’s no indication they’re easing anytime soon.
The U.S. has said it doesn’t seek to decouple from China, though it has been looking to “de-risk” and diversify, partly through strengthening economic ties with allies in the Indo-Pacific region, a strategy that will be a key theme for the Biden administration during the upcoming APEC summit.
‘Stabilize’ ties
The diplomacy is “designed to further stabilize the relationship and make progress on key issues,” Yellen wrote in an opinion piece being published in the Washington Post on Monday.
“We should not make the mistake of becoming so consumed with our competition with China that we become defined by it,” she said in the op-ed.
During their discussions this week, Yellen and He will talk about economic developments and the global outlook, a senior Treasury official said in a press briefing. They will also discuss elements of their economic relationship that affect U.S. national security as well as global challenges including climate change and debt distress.
The Treasury chief will also raise U.S. concerns over Chinese practices including “barriers to market access and its coercive actions against U.S. firms in China,” according to her op-ed.
Yellen visited Beijing in July, her first trip to China as Treasury secretary. She held her first formal meeting there with He, who ascended to the vice premier post earlier this year.
Since then, the two sides have since stepped up communication on economic and financial matters, establishing two working groups that met virtually in October.
That framework is less extensive than the bilateral forums earlier this century, when gatherings featured multiple cabinet members and spanned a wide array of subject matters.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivers opening remarks at a meeting with leaders during the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit at the Treasury Department on Nov. 3, 2023, in Washington, DC. The summit brings together leaders of western hemisphere nations for meetings with administration officials to strengthen economic partnerships and trade. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)
