US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a press conference at the US embassy in Beijing, China, July 9, 2023 [Thomas Peter/ Reuters]
Metropolis Desk-
The US Treasury Secretary claims that Washington and Beijing’s relations have improved as a result of a 10-hours round of bilateral sessions with top Chinese officials.
Treasury Secretary of the United States Janet Yellen stated that her recent discussions with senior Chinese officials were “direct” and “productive” and contributed to putting the US-China relationship on “surer footing.”
The US and China are still at odds on several issues, according to Yellen, who leaves Beijing on Sunday. Nevertheless, she expressed confidence that Washington’s efforts to normalize tense relations between the two largest economies had progressed as a result of her bilateral meetings, which lasted for about 10 hours.
Yellen told reporters at the US Embassy in Beijing that “the US and China have significant disagreements,” highlighting her government’s worries about what she called “unfair economic practices” and Beijing’s recent sanctions on US companies.
However, President [Joe] Biden and I do not view the US-China relationship through the lens of a great power war. We think the world is big enough to support both of our nations,” she remarked.
The four-day trip by Yellen is part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to improve US-China relations, which have been strained over disagreements ranging from Taiwan to technology and have affected businesses and trade relations.
While climate envoy John Kerry is anticipated to travel to China this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his first trip to Beijing under the Biden administration last month.
Before the Group of 20 summits in New Delhi in September or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit set for November in San Francisco, Biden and Xi Jinping may meet.
However, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday that Yellen’s meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng resulted in an agreement to “strengthen communication and cooperation on addressing global challenges,” even though her trip did not result in any concrete results.
The report noted that both parties have also decided to keep up the dialogue.
Yellen stated on Sunday that the goal of her visit was to forge closer ties with China’s new economic leadership, lessen the possibility of miscommunication, and open the door to collaboration in areas like climate change and debt crisis.
“No single visitor will instantly resolve our problems. However, I anticipate that this trip will contribute to the development of a strong and effective communication channel,” she added, adding that she anticipated increased and more frequent engagement at the staff level.
She said that Chinese officials expressed concern about an upcoming executive order that might limit foreign investment, but she reassured them that any such step would be limited in scope and implemented transparently through a rule-making process that would allow for public participation.
Yellen stated that she informed Chinese officials that they may voice their concerns on US activities so that Washington could reply and, “possibly in some situations, explain to unintended consequences of our actions if they’re not carefully targeted,” according to Yellen.
She emphasized that Washington was not attempting to separate from China’s economy because doing so would be “disastrous for both countries and destabilizing for the world.”
She did, however, add that the US did not desire an “open, free, and fair economy” that compelled nations to take sides.
Yellen emphasized that the trade restrictions put in place by Washington, including those limiting China’s access to cutting-edge technology like semiconductor chips that are deemed essential to national security, “are not used by us to gain economic advantage.”
She said that the motivation behind these steps was simple national security concerns.
The Treasury secretary added that she had voiced her “serious concerns” regarding Beijing’s alleged “unfair trade practices,” noting obstacles to international companies entering the Chinese market and worries around the protection of intellectual property.
In addition, she claimed, “I expressed my concerns about a recent uptick in coercive actions against American firms,” alluding to a recent national security crackdown on US consulting firms in China.
Healthy economic competition can only last if it is advantageous to both parties, she claimed.
Yellen also brought up Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, stating that it was “essential” for Chinese businesses to refrain from aiding Moscow in the conflict or dodging sanctions.
Both sides have downplayed expectations for breakthroughs during Yellen’s talks while hailing the opportunity for face-to-face diplomacy. Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu said whether the Treasury secretary’s visit could be considered successful depended on the metric it was being measured through.
“If you look at whether Janet Yellen was able to deepen communication, paving the way for more conversations going forward and meet the new economic team in China, then tick, tick, tick. Yes, she did all of those things,” Yu said from Beijing.
“However, as to whether she was able to complete this very tough task of convincing Beijing that national security measures imposed by the Biden administration on Chinese firms, measures that have strangled its access to semiconductors, that this is just for national security and not about containing China, it seems that she was less successful on that front. According to a Chinese readout, Beijing mentioned that national security should not be used essentially as an excuse or a political tool,” said Yu.
“Also, whether she was able to convince them that derisking is different from decoupling – she mentioned during the press conference that there was still some skepticism there. And finally, as to whether any major agreement was made in terms of this long list of disputes – certainly it doesn’t seem like there was any concrete agreement reached.”
Meanwhile, analysts in China claimed that because Blinken is viewed as being more of a hawk, Beijing’s reaction towards Yellen’s visit seemed “more enthusiastic” than it did for Blinken.
“Yellen is seen as a professional in the eyes of the Chinese and her attitude towards China-US economic and trade relations is relatively rational,” Wu Xinbo, head of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, said to the AFP news agency.
According to Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, “any concrete key breakthroughs and major deliverables presumably will be reserved for the two top leaders to announce,” in the future.
“The two sides haven’t had this level of communications and consultations for several years,” she told adding that the success of this effort depends on whether or not this process is started or restarted.
Source- Al Jazeera
