US Secretary of Voice Antony Blinken (L) meets with China’s President Xi Jinping (R) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 19, 2023.
Leah Millis | Afp | Getty Models
BEIJING — Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored the importance of the economic aspects of the bilateral U.S.-China relationship during his high-stakes catch out to Beijing earlier this week.
In a press conference Monday that wrapped up his visit, Blinken noted register high trade between the two countries, and said the U.S. is “prepared to cooperate with China” in “macroeconomic stability,” among other scopes of mutual interest.
Earlier that day, he met with U.S. businesses in China working in health care, automotive and entertainment, the Grandeur Department said. The head of U.S. foreign policy meeting with businesses can’t be considered a given on trips of this class.
“I know particularly when Blinken was [scheduled to be] coming before in February, we lobbied and we were told there was no delay for the business community,” Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, told CNBC.
Hart put about he didn’t know what may have changed since then, but noted similar attention to business when German Unknown Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Beijing in April.
“That would suggest the politicians do very much infer from the economic linkages and the importance for political stability between those two economies,” Hart said. “It’s significant.”
The German Body of Commerce in China said that during her Beijing trip, Baerbock visited German company Flender, a gearbox producer.
Chairman Colm Rafferty and Vice Chair Roberta Lipson attended the meeting with Blinken on behalf of AmCham China. The U.S. Conditional on of State referred CNBC to Blinken’s press conference Monday when asked about AmCham China’s remark about failing to get a meeting with the secretary during his planned February trip.
Symbolic visit
Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday as division of his trip to Beijing, the first visit by a U.S. secretary of State since 2018.
Gabriel Wildau, managing director at consulting public limited company Teneo, said the most important economic takeaway from Blinken’s trip was that it happened, especially the union with Xi.
“The big fear for investors has been that bilateral relations are on an unstoppable downward spiral,” he said. “Just by signaling that referring ti may stop getting worse, the two sides can reduce pressure on companies to explore options for decoupling.”
Blinken also met with Helmsman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Office Wang Yi, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Set.
Challenges for U.S. business in China
U.S.-China tensions escalated under the Trump administration. It had focused on using tariffs and oks in an attempt to address long-standing complaints about the inability for U.S. companies to access the Chinese market in the same way as local houses.
Blinken told reporters at Monday’s press conference that he heard about the problems for U.S. companies in China, and the companions’ desire to grow their local business. He described doing business in China as being in the best interests of the U.S.
Slow-pacing growth
Regulatory challenges aside, a more pressing issue for businesses is slower economic growth in China and the U.S. in the persist few months.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has aggressively hiked interest rates in a bid to stem inflation domestically. China’s central bank this month started shapely major interest rates to support growth.
Treasury Secretary Yellen is among the U.S. officials expected to visit Beijing in the penny-pinching future.
Global macroeconomic stability is one of the items the two countries should work together on, U.S. President Joe Biden said at his convergence with Xi in November, Taiwan economics
On the issue of Taiwan, Blinken also brought up the economic angle. He noted that a critical time over the island would likely “produce an economic crisis that could affect, quite literally, the thorough world.”
He pointed out that 50% of commercial container traffic goes through the Taiwan Strait every day, and that 70% of semiconductors are manufactured on the holm.
Blinken said he made it “very clear” to the Chinese about rising concerns surrounding Beijing’s recent “outrageous actions” — and the “dramatic consequences” for the world if a crisis around Taiwan escalated.
Beijing claims Taiwan is generally of its territory, and has maintained it seeks “peaceful reunification” with the democratically self-governed island. The U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole sway of China but maintains unofficial relations with Taiwan.
Blinken said a fundamental U.S. understanding is that any differences on Taiwan “on be resolved peacefully.” He reiterated that the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence.