Treasury secretary stresses positives
BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a message of mutual cooperation at a meeting Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, highlighting the improvement in relations since her visit to China last year while recognizing major differences remain.
After focusing on trade and economic issues for the first two days of her visit, Yellen turned to the broader U.S.-China relationship in the meeting with Li, one of China’s top leaders.
“While we have more to do, I believe that, over the past year, we have put our bilateral relationship on more stable footing,” she said in the ornate Fujian room of the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square.
Yellen, who is regarded favorably in China, is the first Cabinet member to visit since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California in November in a carefully orchestrated meeting to set the troubled relationship between their countries on a better course.
Li, in remarks before their meeting, said the high media interest in Yellen’s visit “shows the high expectation they have ... and also the expectation and hope to grow” the U.S.-China relationship.
China’s emergence as an economic and military power has created a rivalry with the United States.
The U.S. has restricted China’s access to advanced semiconductors and other technology that could be used for military purposes. China accuses the U.S. of trying to constrain its economic development.
At their meeting, Li told Yellen that China hopes the U.S won’t politicize economic and trade issues or overstretch the definition of national security, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Yellen came to China with trade practices that put American companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage at the top of her agenda.
Chinese government subsidies and other types of policy support have encouraged solar panel and EV makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb.
Although that has driven down prices for consumers, Western governments fear the capacity will flood their markets with low-priced exports, threatening American and European jobs.
Li said the development of the green energy industry in China would make an important contribution to combating climate change, the Xinhua report said.
Relations were at a low point when Yellen visited in July in the early stages of efforts to improve ties.
China had cut off talks on a range of issues in anger over a visit by thenHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022.
In that context, Yellen’s visit is an attempt to build on the growing but fragile stability.
The end of her trip will overlap with a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, announced Sunday by China’s Foreign Ministry.
China’s sharp rise in trade with the Kremlin has increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While China does not provide weapons to Russia, the U.S. has expressed concern about China’s sale of items to Russia that can have military as well as civilian uses.