US-China ties on more stable footing: Yellen

BEIJING: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a message of mutual cooperation at a meeting on Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, highlighting the improvement in relations since her visit to China last year while recognising that major differences remain.

After focusing on trade and economic issues for the first two days of her visit, Yellen turned to the broader US-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 favourably 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 the media 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 US-China relationship. China’s emergence as an economic and military power has created a rivalry with the long dominant United States.

The US has restricted China’s access to advanced semiconductors and other technology, saying it could be used for military purposes. China, still a middle-income country, accuses the US of trying to constrain its economic development.

At their meeting, Li told Yellen that China hopes the US won’t politicise economic and trade issues or overstretch the definition of national security, the official Xinhua News Agency said.