by Andrea Shalal and Yew Lun Tian
BEIJING, July 6 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing on Thursday for a four-day visit aimed at redefining relations between the world’s two largest economies.
While no major breakthrough is expected, US officials say Janet Yellen will work to open new channels of discussion with China.
A sign of the tensions between the two countries, particularly commercial ones, Janet Yellen was greeted on her arrival in the Chinese capital only by a second-ranking official from the Ministry of Finance.
The Treasury Secretary will meet with Premier Li Qiang, former Vice Premier Liu He and business leaders on Friday, a senior US official said.
It will address China’s “unfair practices”, including recent punitive measures against US companies and barriers to market access, he added.
A senior Treasury official previously said the former Federal Reserve chair will also say Washington is not seeking to decouple the US and Chinese economies, while reserving the right to guarantee human rights globally. and US national security interests through targeted actions.
Several Chinese observers believe that the speech delivered by Janet Yellen in April, in which she placed the national security of the United States and its allies at the heart of its economic policy with China, did not inspire them with much optimism.
“I wouldn’t say Janet Yellen is unwelcome, but China can’t just swallow all the poison pills and keep smiling,” said Wang Huiyao, head of the Center for China and Globalization think tank. .
Janet Yellen’s trip comes weeks after a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who agreed with President Xi Jinping that the rivalry between the two powers should not turn into a conflict.
These two visits precede a possible meeting between the American and Chinese presidents at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in November in San Francisco. (Yew Lun Tian and Andrea Shalal; with Joe Cash, French version Laetitia Volga, editing by Tangi Salaün)
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