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Yellen kicks off Beijing visit with focus on easing US-China tensions

Both sides are sceptical that Yellen's visit will be able to take much heat out of US-China ties, however, with officials accepting that both countries have placed safeguarding national security above economic ties.

AP

Yellen's (R) long-anticipated trip comes weeks after a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping that the mutual rivalry should not veer into conflict, amid a freeze in talks between their militaries./ Photo: AP

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has begun a four-day visit to China that was expected to focus on easing ties between the world's two largest economies, despite low expectations on both sides.

Shortly after arriving in the Chinese capital on Thursday, Yellen said she was glad to be in Beijing and looked forward to advancing President Joe Biden's goal of deepening communication between the two countries.

"We seek a healthy economic competition that benefits American workers and firms and to collaborate on global challenges," Yellen wrote on Twitter.

"We will take action to protect our national security when needed, and this trip presents an opportunity to communicate and avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding."

Yellen was welcomed by a Chinese finance ministry official and the US envoy to China, Nicholas Burns, as she stepped off a government plane just after a rainstorm brought some relief to an otherwise sweltering Beijing.

Speaking on arrival in Beijing, a US official travelling with Yellen said "especially if there are things that we may disagree about, it's even more important that we are talking."

"I don't think it's fruitless, I will say that definitively."

I am glad to be in Beijing to meet with Chinese officials and business leaders. We seek a healthy economic competition that benefits American workers and firms and to collaborate on global challenges,
— Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) July 6, 2023

No major breakthroughs expected

On Friday, Yellen will meet China's Premier Li Qiang and former economy tsar Liu He, who is widely seen as a close confidant of President Xi Jinping.

Before Yellen's visit, Chinese analysts told state media that her April speech, which ranked securing the national security interests of the US and its allies as the key plank of economic policy with China, did not inspire optimism.

Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, told the Global Times newspaper that Yellen's emphasis on national security meant the US was unlikely to stop the "economic and technological suppression" of China.

Yellen will emphasise that the United States does not support decoupling and call for greater transparency by China on its new espionage law, as well as progress in resolving international debt distress, the US official added.

Even though no major breakthroughs are expected, US officials say Yellen will push to open new lines of communication and coordination on economic matters, and stress the consequences of supplying lethal aid to Russia, an assertion China has adamantly rejected.

When Chinese ambassador Xie Feng met Yellen in Washington on Monday, he urged the US to "pay great attention" and move to tackle China's main concerns on the economy and trade.