US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen concluded her Beijing visit with no announcement of developments or agreements for improving the ongoing rifts between the two countries, The New York Times reported.
She indulged in ten hours of meetings over two days and left for Washington on Sunday. However, it is unlikely that the economic tension between the two countries will actually ease, the report noted. Even as more talks are expected from Yellen’s visit, neither she nor Chinese officials changed their stances on important policy issues, leaving the two sides facing the prospect of more conflicts over trade, investment and technology.
US-China ties had been deteriorating for years overs significant points of tension — including war in Ukraine, a Chinese spy balloon that flew over US territory and was shot down by the American military, and the two countries’ escalating exchange of restrictions on trade, reported NYT.
Yellen concluded her visit on Sunday. Her trip came a few weeks after US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken.
Later in July, John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate change, will also visit China to resume global warming negotiations.
During her visit, Yellen made it apparent that the Biden administration has serious concerns about a number of China’s business practises, including how it treats foreign compaines, as well as its policies, which the US perceives as attempts at economic coercion.
China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported on Yellen’s visit hours before her news conference, hailing the talks as constructive while also restating what China sees as key areas of dispute. China’s ongoing opposition to the Biden administration’s emphasis on protecting American national security through trade restrictions was emphasised in the report.
“China believes that generalizing national security is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges,” Xinhua reported, adding, “The Chinese side expressed concern about U.S. sanctions and restrictive measures against China.”
Chinese officials spoke with Yellen on their own worries. The tariffs placed on Chinese imports by the Trump administration, which are still in effect, were discussed, according to the Treasury secretary. While Yellen has criticised tariffs as being ineffectual, she also reiterated the administration’s stance since President Biden took office by suggesting that no decisions on the levies will be made until the conclusion of an ongoing internal study of them, according to NYT.
Officials and experts in China are also concerned that the administration’s efforts to restrict the country’s access to some technologies may hinder the growth of high-potential industries like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
Yellen said on Sunday, “I explained that President Biden is examining potential controls on outbound investment in certain very narrow high technology areas,” adding that such restrictions “should not be something that will have a significant impact on the investment climate between our two countries.”
Since 2015, China has imposed its own, more extensive restrictions on foreign investment, encouraging businesses and households to avoid speculating in foreign real estate in favour of making investments abroad in strategic industries like cybersecurity, heavy manufacturing, and aircraft production, reported NYT.
Wu Xinbo, the head of international studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, issued a warning that the Biden administration’s policies towards China must also alter in order for Yellen’s visit to have a significant positive impact on ties.
“So far, we haven’t seen any sign that Biden will rethink his economic policy toward China,” he said.
But even after Yellen’s visit, many in China are skeptical. As the United States presents policies as “just for national security, then the question is how big is the yard of national security”, Wu Xinbo added, according to The New York Times
