Yellen says US-China relationship on ‘more stable footing’ but more can be done to improve ties
BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a message of mutual cooperation at a meeting Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, highlighting the improvement in relations since her visit to China last year while recognizing that major differences remain.
After focusing on trade and economic issues for the first two days of her visit, Yellen turned to the broader U.S.-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 favorably 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 U.S.-China relationship.
China’s emergence as an economic and military power has created a rivalry with the long dominant United States.
The U.S. 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 U.S. of trying to constrain its economic development.
At their meeting, Li told Yellen that China hopes the U.S won’t politicize economic and trade issues or overstretch the definition of national security, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Yellen came to China with trade practices that put American companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage at the top of her agenda.
Chinese government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged solar panel and EV makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb.
While that has driven down prices for consumers, Western governments fear that that capacity will flood their markets with low-priced exports, threatening American and European jobs.
But Li argued that the development of the green energy industry in China would make an important contribution to combating climate change, the Xinhua report said.
