Secretary of Treasury and Xie hold “frank and productive discussion” that covered global and bilateral issues…reports Asian Lite News
Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen and Xie Fang, China’s ambassador to the United States, met on Monday ahead of Yellen’s scheduled visit to Beijing this week, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Yellen and Xie held a “frank and productive discussion” that covered global and bilateral issues, the statement said.
Xie expressed China’s concerns on economic and trade issues and asked the United States to take action to resolve them, according state media broadcaster CCTV.
He also expressed hope that the United States and China will eliminate interference while strengthening dialogue, CCTV said.
Yellen, will travel to China from July 6 to 9 to deepen the communication between the two countries, the US Department of the Treasury said.
As per the statement, Yellen will discuss a range of issues, including global macroeconomy and financial developments with Chinese officials. Yellen’s long-anticipated trip is part of a push by President Joe Biden to deepen communications between the US and China, to responsibly manage the relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges.
“In an April speech, Secretary Yellen laid out three principles guiding America’s economic relationship with the PRC. The United States proceeds with confidence in our long-term economic strength thanks to our historically strong recovery and the investments the Biden Administration is making in America’s productive capacity,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement.
“First, we seek to secure our national security interests along with those of our allies and to protect human rights through targeted actions that are not intended to gain economic advantage. Second, we seek a healthy economic relationship with China that fosters mutually beneficial growth and innovation and expands economic opportunities for American workers and businesses. Finally, we also seek to cooperate on urgent global challenges like climate change and debt distress,” it added.
Notably, this is the second visit from a US official within a month.
Earlier, on June 18, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China and met President Xi and the former raised concerns about Beijing’s human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, as well as individual cases of concern, the US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Blinken also stressed that the US will continue to work with its allies and partners to advance its vision for a world that is free, open, and upholds the ‘rules-based international order’.
The top US diplomat during his two-day visit to Beijing, met President Xi Jinping, Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Office Wang Yi, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang from June 18 to 19.
Yellen’s trip would follow Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s two-day stop in Beijing in June, the highest-level meetings in China in the past five years. Blinken met with Xi and the two agreed to stabilize deteriorated China-U.S. ties. However, better communications between their militaries could not be agreed upon.
Treasury officials didn’t specify which officials Yellen would meet with, but said it would not be Xi.
The treasury secretary’s visit will be more focused on stabilizing the global economy and challenging China’s support of Russia in its ongoing land invasion of Ukraine. China has developed an uncomfortable closeness with the Kremlin – claiming neutrality in the war, but holding joint military drills and frequent state visits with Russian officials.
Still, U.S. officials hold out hope that China-U.S. relations will not further deteriorate.
Yellen met with her previous Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in January in Switzerland and made a big speech at Johns Hopkins University in April calling for “cooperation on the urgent global challenges of our day “ between the two countries for the sake of maintaining global stability, while supporting economic restrictions on China to advance U.S national security interests.
At a Paris summit on global finance last week, a deal was brokered that restructured Zambia’s debt with its creditors, which include China – Zambia’s biggest creditor holding $4.1 billion of a total $6.3 billion debt load. The deal may provide a roadmap for how China will handle restructuring deals with other nations in debt distress, and shows the Asian superpower is willing to cooperate in negotiations with other Group of 20 nations.
“I am pleased that the international community has come together to support Zambia in its time of need,” Yellen said in a statement last week.
However, there are plenty of other tensions impacting the superpowers’ relationship. The discovery of a Chinese surveillance balloon traversing over sensitive areas of the United States in February put a damper on her previous travel plans, and further strained relations.
U.S. lawmakers earlier this year grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about data security and the social media firm’s ties to China, with some pushing a ban on the app, popular among American youths.