US doesn't seek 'winner-take-all' type of competition with China

The United States is seeking a healthy competition with China based on fair rules that benefit both countries, not a "winner-take-all" approach, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Chinese Premier Li Qiang in a meeting in Beijing.

In prepared remarks on Friday, Yellen told Li she hoped her visit would spur more regular channels of communication between the world's two largest economies, adding that both countries had a duty to "show leadership" on global challenges such as climate change.

She said Washington would "in certain circumstances, need to pursue targeted actions to protect its national security," but disagreements over such moves should not jeopardise the broader relationship.

"We may disagree in these instances. However, we should not allow any disagreement to lead to misunderstandings that unnecessarily worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship," she said.

Yellen cited Li's remarks in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he said "differences should not be a cause for estrangement, but a driver for more communication and exchange," and underscored her hope to expand communication with China.

"We seek healthy economic competition that is not winner-take-all but that, with a fair set of rules, can benefit both countries over time," she said.

'Mutually beneficial and win-win'

Beijing has struck an optimistic tone about the visit despite the tensions, with China's finance ministry saying on Friday that it would serve to "strengthen communication and exchange between the two countries".

"The nature of China-US economic and trade relations is mutually beneficial and win-win, and there is no winner in a trade war or 'decoupling and breaking chains'," a ministry official said in a statement.

On Friday morning, Yellen had a "substantive conversation" with her previous counterpart, former Vice Premier Liu He, as well as the outgoing governor of China's central bank, Yi Gang, a US Treasury official said.

"They discussed the global economic outlook as well as the respective economic outlooks for the United States and China," the official added.

Analysts said Yellen's visit could allow for a warming of ties.

"Yellen actually appears to be a more down-to-earth member of the Biden administration," Tao Wenzhao, a fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told AFP news agency.

"I think we welcome Yellen's visit, and this on a functional level should allow both sides to warm up to each other," he said. "We are now reshaping, rebuilding China-US relations."