On an early morning in San Francisco, gently surrounded by fog, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart will have two days of talks. This is not only a reunion of two old friends, but also a step towards resuming normal exchanges ahead of the long-awaited meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies. From November 9th to 10th, these two economic leaders from different continents will sit down and chat under the umbrella of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
This grand event in California will bring together leaders and senior officials from 21 Pacific Rim economies. Their dialogue will serve as a bridge, connecting the East and the West. The dialogue between Ms. Yellen and Vice Premier Ho Lifeng was based on a series of visits and statements. They have sought to re-establish diplomatic ties between China and the United States and resume economic dialogue on tense issues such as U.S. export controls and China's military involvement in the South China Sea.
Visits to China by Yellen and other U.S. officials this year, as well as a return visit to Washington last month by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have paved the way for an upcoming meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit. . This will be their first face-to-face conversation in a year. The Biden administration's policy toward China is to defend and ensure national security while emphasizing that the United States is not trying to contain China economically. This has been criticized by Chinese officials because U.S. export controls implemented last year were intended to deprive China of key technologies.
While Biden’s approach is less bellicose than the Trump administration’s trade war, it does stand in stark contrast to the more open economic relations of the previous two decades. In fact, the Biden administration has kept in place President Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods, with no signs of easing for the time being.
The United States says it is not seeking to decouple from China but has been seeking to "reduce risks" and diversify, in part by strengthening economic ties with allies in the Indo-Pacific region, a strategy that will be central to the Biden administration's upcoming plans A key theme at the upcoming APEC summit.
Yellen wrote in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post that such diplomacy is "aimed at further stabilizing relations and making progress on key issues." "We should not make the mistake of being so focused on competition with China that we are defined by it," she said in the column.
In discussions this week, Yellen and Ho will discuss economic developments and the global outlook, a senior Treasury official said at a news conference. They will also discuss elements of the economic relationship that impact U.S. national security and global challenges including climate change and debt distress.
The Treasury secretary will also raise U.S. concerns about China's practices, including "market access barriers and coercive behavior against U.S. companies in China," according to her op-ed.
Yellen visited Beijing in July this year, her first trip to China since becoming Treasury Secretary. There she held her first formal meeting with He, who was promoted to the post of deputy prime minister earlier this year.
Since then, the two sides have strengthened communication on economic and financial matters and established two working groups via video conference in October. This framework is less broad than bilateral forums at the beginning of this century, when gatherings were characterized by involving multiple cabinet members and covering a wide range of topics.
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