BEIJING: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said 10 hours of meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent days were “direct” and “productive”, helping stabilise the superpowers’ often rocky relationship as her four-day Beijing trip ended.

Before departing China on Sunday, Yellen said the United States and China remained at odds on a number of issues but expressed confidence that her visit had advanced efforts to put the relationship on “surer footing”.

“The US and China have significant disagreements,” Yellen told a press conference at the US embassy in Beijing, citing Washington’s concerns about what she called “unfair economic practices” and recent punitive actions against US firms.

Admits two superpowers have significant disagreements

“But President (Joe) Biden and I do not see the relationship between the US and China through the frame of great power conflict. We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive.”

With US-China relations at a low over national security issues, including Taiwan, US export bans on advanced technologies and China’s state-led industrial policies, Washington has been trying to repair ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing last month, the first trip by the top US diplomat in Biden’s presidency. Climate envoy John Kerry is expected to visit this month.

The US diplomatic push comes ahead of a possible meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping at September’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi or a Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering scheduled for November in San Francisco.

Yellen said her visit aimed to establish and deepen ties with China’s new economic team, reduce the risk of misunderstanding and pave the way for cooperation in areas such as climate change and debt distress.

“I do think we’ve made some progress and I think we can have a healthy economic relationship that benefits both of us and the world,” she said, adding that she expected increased and more regular communications at the staff level.

Yellen said she told Chinese officials they could raise concerns about US actions, so that Washington could explain, and “possibly in some situations, respond to unintended consequences of our actions if they’re not carefully targeted.”

Yellen met with officials including Premier Li Qiang and People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng, whom she referred to as the head of the central bank, appearing to confirm his expected promotion.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2023