A senior Treasury source said Sunday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would visit Beijing from July 6-9 to discuss various topics with senior Chinese officials, including U.S. worries over a new Chinese counterespionage law.
The official told reporters that President Joe Biden wants Yellen’s long-awaited trip to enhance interactions between the world’s two largest economies, stabilize the relationship, and reduce the danger of blunders when disagreements emerge.
It comes weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing and agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to normalize relations and avoid war. When Biden called Xi a “dictator,” China reacted loudly, but observers say the remark had little impact on efforts to restore relations.
The Treasury chief will tell China’s new economic team that Washington will continue to defend human rights and its national security interests via targeted actions against China but wants to work with Beijing on urgent issues like climate change and debt distress many countries face.
“We seek a healthy economic relationship with China, one that fosters growth and innovation in both countries,” the official said. “We do not desire decoupling. Stopping trade and investment would destabilize our countries and the global economy.”
The anonymous person did not disclose which Chinese officials Yellen will visit in Beijing. A second administration official told Reuters that Yellen would meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The first official said Yellen would emphasize Washington’s desire to increase its competitiveness while responding with friends to China’s “economic coercion” and unfair economic practices.
The official said China’s new national security and espionage law could affect foreign and U.S. enterprises.
“We have concerns with the new measure, and how it might apply, that it could expand the scope of what is considered by the authorities in China to be espionage activity,” the person said, citing potential spillovers to the investment climate and economic relationship.
The individual said Treasury officials hope to have positive meetings and create longer-term contact channels with China’s new economic team, particularly at the sub-cabinet level. No major “breakthroughs” were expected.
The Uyghur Muslim minority’s human rights abuses, China’s prohibition on Micron Technology memory chips, and China’s attacks on international due diligence and consulting businesses were also raised by U.S. officials.
“Make sure they don’t think something is more sweeping than it is or than it’s intended to be,” the official said of Yellen’s talks with Chinese officials regarding a long-awaited U.S. executive action restricting outbound investment in China in vital areas.
Comment Template