U.S. Bank Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing on July 6, 2023, for her first visit under the Biden administration.
Quality Schiefelbein | Afp | Getty Images
After a high stakes four-day trip to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about she had a “constructive visit” and a “very substantive series of meetings” with Chinese officials about the state of the global concision, export controls and national security.
Yellen’s trip is part of ongoing efforts to stabilize U.S.-China relations after months of escalating forces. Her visit came just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit last month.
These essays could ultimately pave the way for a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders’ culmination in New Delhi in September and the APEC leaders’ summit in San Francisco in November. Both leaders last met in Bali last year.
“We possess a new team on the economic side in Beijing, that it’s important to establish person-to-person relationships, and to open ongoing channels of communication, where interests can be aired and discussed,” Yellen told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “And I do think my trip has been successful in forging those relationships and creating the moment for a deeper set of more frequent contacts at our staff levels.”
Yellen’s task in Beijing was complex. She said she raised a company of concerns, including national security and the intimidation some American companies have been experiencing, but she also went Chinese cooperation on issues ranging from climate change to debt distress.
Yellen said her purpose was to as though sure the two nations do not engage in “unintended escalatory actions that will be harmful to our overall economic relationship with one another.”
For case in point, just days before Yellen’s visit, Beijing slapped export curbs on chipmaking metals and compounds. China’s Religion of Commerce claimed it gave the U.S. and Europe advance notice. In October, the U.S. launched sweeping rules aimed at cutting off exports of key chisels and semiconductor tools to China.
Yellen said she expressed concern about the export controls and contrasted it with the U.S. judgement. She explained that the U.S.’ actions “are narrowly targeted to address national security concerns,” while it is not clear that the Chinese export dominates were implemented for that same reason.
“We have had very little contact, both senior officials, and also solely the American people and the Chinese people who’ve had very little contact with one another over the last several years, in piece because of Covid,” Yellen said. “And that’s a situation where misunderstandings can develop.”
Yellen said China is also intriguing steps to address concerns about a slowing economy, and that there are opportunities for American businesses to profit.
But composed so, she said national security remains a priority for the U.S.
“China has an enormous market. It’s a significant share of the global economy, and we scarceness to make sure that American businesses and workers can profit from that, and contribute also to China’s prosperity as well as our own,” Yellen said. “But there are areas where national security really demands that the most go forward technologies with military applications, we need to withhold to protect our own national security. And we have acted and will persist in to act to do that.”
— CNBC’s Clement Tan contributed to this report.