US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will speak with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Friday afternoon, as she begins two days of talks designed to stabilize ties between the world’s largest economies.
Yellen’s bid to reopen communication lines and find areas of common economic ground will begin with her former counterpart, retired Vice Premier Liu He. They will discuss their respective economies and global economic outlook, according to a statement from the Treasury Department.
She will meet members of the American business community in China later Friday, before sitting down with China’s No. 2 official Li at 4:30 p.m., according to the statement. In the evening, she will attend a dinner hosted by an economics-focused think tank called CF40.
Yellen is the second member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet to head to the Chinese capital in recent weeks, as the world’s two largest economies look to mend ties after a spate of bilateral tensions.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping told Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to China last month that it was “very good” the nations had made progress in steadying relations. US Climate Envoy John Kerry is set to travel to the country later this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Yellen has said for months she intends to visit China, but an escalation in tensions stemming from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip last year to Taiwan — which Beijing claims as part of China — and the flight of a Chinese balloon over the US left the plans in limbo.
Old Colleagues
Yellen and Liu have built up something of a rapport. When the two met in January in Zurich, they left their aides behind as they kept talking. Despite stepping down as vice premier earlier this year, Liu is still a trusted figure for Xi on dealings with the US and economic matters, the South China Morning Post reported last month, citing people it didn’t identify.
Liu also played a role in negotiating an end to the trade war that started during the Trump administration. The tariffs that the US put in place still remain in effect, an issue that upsets Beijing.
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The Treasury Department said earlier that Yellen will discuss the importance of responsibly managing the US-China relationship in her meetings with Chinese officials, communicating directly her areas of concern, and working together to address global challenges. She’s not expected to meet with Xi.
The Treasury chief may face questions from her counterparts on the Biden administration’s plans to regulate and potentially cut off US corporate investment in China in sensitive technologies.
On Monday, Beijing imposed restrictions on exporting two metals that are crucial to parts of the semiconductor, telecoms and electric-vehicle industries, a move China’s Ministry of Commerce said was necessary to protect Chinese national security.
In a sign of the wide range of challenges in the relationship, just as Yellen was arriving in Beijing the Biden administration called on China to do more to combat the spread of illicit synthetic drugs.
Todd Robinson, the assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement, said Thursday that the US has no sign yet that China plans to join a new US-led coalition of 84 countries that will work to disrupt the spread of fentanyl and other drugs.
Private Chinese firms export many of the chemicals used in creating fentanyl before it’s trafficked into the US and other countries.
--With assistance from Philip Glamann.
(Updates with more details throughout.)
