Yellen pushes competition, not conflict with China, in her first in-person meeting with counterpart
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday, pushing competition instead of conflict during their first in-person meeting.
She pledged an effort to manage differences and "prevent competition from becoming anything even near conflict" during the high-ranking contact between the two nations since Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping agreed last year to look for areas of possible cooperation.
"While we have areas of disagreement, and we will convey them directly, we should not allow misunderstandings, particularly those stemming from a lack of communication, to unnecessarily worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship," Yellen said in opening remarks in front of reporters.
Liu said he was ready to work together with the U.S.
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, right, shakes hands with China's Vice-Premier Liu He during a bilateral meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. ((Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP) / AP Newsroom)
"We do believe that we have to always bear in mind the bigger picture, try to manage our differences appropriately and seek common ground," Liu said, speaking through an interpreter. "In this way, hopefully we can work together to maintain the overall stability of Chinese-U.S. relations."
"No matter how circumstances change, we should always maintain dialogue and exchanges," he also noted.
According to a U.S. Treasury readout of the nearly three-hour-long meeting, the counterparts agreed that China and the U.S. would work in tandem regarding issues around financing for battling climate change, as well as to support "developing countries in their clean energy transitions."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen attends a bilateral meeting with China's Vice-Premier Liu He, in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. ((Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP) / AP Newsroom)
It also indicated that Yellen was open to traveling to China and welcomed Liu and others to America in the near future. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed to China in early February.
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Liu will step down this year as part of an overhaul of China's economic leadership.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and China's Vice-Premier Liu He at a bilateral meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. ((Michael Buholzer/Keystone via AP) / AP Newsroom)
The meeting comes as China's economy reopens after a resurgence of COVID-19 that took the lives of tens of thousands of people and as the U.S. slowly recovers from 40-year-high inflation and is on track to hit its statutory debt ceiling.
The debt issue is of keen interest to Asia, as China is the second-largest holder of U.S. debt.
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Notably, Yellen has been critical of China's trade practices and its relationship with Russia and the U.S. has previously acted to block the sale of advanced computer chips to China and added dozens of Chinese high-tech companies to an export controls blacklist, prompting Chian to file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.