US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, in Beijing, April 7, 2024 (POOL/AFP/Tatan Syuflana)
Sino-American relations can only progress through direct and open communication, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Sunday during a meeting in Beijing with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Ms. Yellen’s visit, her second to China in a year, comes at a time when Washington and Beijing are at odds over a number of issues, including access to cutting-edge technologies, the future of Taiwan and the TikTok application, threatened with banning in the United States.
“Although we still have a lot to do, I think that over the past year we have stabilized our relationship,” said Ms. Yellen received by the Chinese Prime Minister at the People’s Palace, which overlooks the square Tiananmen.
“We understand that we can only make progress if we communicate directly and openly with each other,” stressed the American Secretary of the Treasury.
The Chinese Prime Minister, for his part, told his interlocutor that he hoped that the United States and China could be “partners, not adversaries”.
Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing on Saturday evening from Guangzhou (south), after a series of meetings.
– “Balanced growth” –
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a meeting in Beijing with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, April 7, 2024 (POOL/AFP/Tatan Syuflana)
In Guangzhou, the Treasury Secretary met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Washington and Beijing agreed to have “intensive discussions on balanced growth,” the US Treasury said in a statement.
The United States fears that the massive subsidies injected by the Chinese government into technologies, green energy, electric vehicles and even batteries will flood the global market with low-cost products, putting companies in these sectors outside China in difficulty. .
Ms. Yellen said on Friday that the subsidies paid by Beijing to the industry represented “a risk for global economic resilience”, by creating “overcapacity” of production.
According to her, the world’s two largest economies have a duty to “manage (their) relationship responsibly”, particularly in the face of global challenges.
On Saturday, Washington announced that Chinese and American officials would begin discussions about cooperation against money laundering.
The objective is to cut funding, particularly for drug traffickers, at a time when the United States is counting on China to stem the fentanyl crisis, a powerful synthetic opiate, used in the medical field but whose use can be diverted as a drug.
Fentanyl is responsible for more than 70,000 overdose deaths each year in the United States, according to American authorities, mainly among 18-49 year olds.
– “Protectionism” –
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, accompanied by US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns (left), at the People’s Palace in Beijing, April 7, 2024 (POOL/AFP/Tatan Syuflana)
Despite a dialogue on economic issues, contentious issues remain.
The official Xinhua news agency is concerned about a “specter of protectionism” in the United States.
And the agency criticizes American taxes on Chinese electric vehicles, which according to it are intended to “displace” competitors from the market.
The Global Times, a daily with a resolutely nationalist tone, is concerned about American restrictions in the technology sector, at a time when Washington is complicating semiconductor exports to China.
“Janet Yellen’s visit opens up space to test the possibility of making progress,” Ryan Hass, China specialist at the American think tank Brookings Institution, told AFP.
Only time will tell if these efforts will translate into tangible progress, Mr. Hass cautioned.
Janet Yellen is scheduled to meet with Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an on Sunday.
On Monday, she will meet former Vice-Premier Liu He, former head of economic issues, and the governor of the Chinese central bank Pan Gongsheng.
© 2024 AFP
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