US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, He affirmed today that bilateral relations with China took “a step forward” after four days of talks with authorities in Beijing, despite the persistent differences between the two largest economies in the world.
“We believe the world is big enough for our two countries to prosper,” Yellen told reporters at the US embassy in Beijing after her visit, which was aimed at stabilizing ties with China after recent tense disagreements.
“The two countries have an obligation to manage this relationship responsibly, find a way to live together and share global prosperity”he added.
What Yellen’s visit to China left behind
During her stay in the Chinese capital, Yellen insisted on the need for greater exchanges and collaboration with China, despite the deep disagreements between the two powers and their growing rivalry for economic and technological hegemony.
Although the visit yielded no specific agreements, China’s Xinhua news agency reported that a meeting between Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng yesterday led to an agreement to “strengthen communication and cooperation in addressing global challenges.”
The state media added that the two parties agreed to continue the exchanges. Yellen assured that despite the “significant discrepancies” between the two countries, he was able to hold “direct, substantive and productive” talks with the Chinese authorities.
“My bilateral meetings, which totaled 10 hours over two days, were a step forward in our effort to put US-China relations on a more solid footing.”he declared, reported the AFP news agency.
The differences between China and the US
At the top of the list of differences are trade restrictions that the United States says seek to reduce China’s access to advanced technology it considers crucial to its national security.
The United States will maintain “directed actions” to preserve its national security, but such trade restrictions do not seek to “extract economic advantages”Yellen asserted today
He argued that the actions of President Joe Biden’s government seek to be “transparent, limited in scope and directed at clear objectives (…) We do not use them to gain economic advantage.”
He also said he raised “serious concerns” about what he called China’s “unfair trade practices,” such as barriers to foreign firms’ entry into the Chinese market, as well as intellectual property protection issues.
“I also expressed my concerns about a recent increase in enforcement actions against US companies”he said, referring to a recent national security crackdown on US consulting firms in China. Biden expressed confidence in June that he would meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, soon.
Source: Ambito
