U.S. Treasury chief Yellen to visit China in bid to 'responsibly manage' ties
By Jesse Johnson, Jadenne Radoc Cabahug contributed to this report
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit China later this week for meetings with senior officials to discuss a range of issues, with the world’s two biggest economies looking to “responsibly manage” their increasingly fraught relationship.
Yellen will use the four-day visit from Thursday to stress the importance of communicating “directly about areas of concern,” while working together with China “to address global challenges,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Sunday.
China’s Finance Ministry also confirmed Yellen’s trip, which will make her the second Cabinet-level U.S. official to visit the Chinese capital since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
The visit also comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month. During Blinken’s trip, the top U.S. diplomat met with senior officials and held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with the two agreeing on the need to “stabilize” relations and paving the way for visits to both Beijing and Washington by other top officials.
The Treasury chief is expected to broach contentious subjects such as China’s newly amended counterespionage law and its alleged unfair economic practices. Yellen is also expected to be grilled by her interlocutors over stringent U.S. technology regulations — including on vital semiconductors — that Washington has slapped on Beijing.
“My hope in traveling to China is to re-establish contact,” Yellen said in an interview Wednesday, noting that the Biden team and Chinese leadership, the latter of which was reshuffled in March, need “to get to know one another.”
She said the two countries “need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don’t have misunderstandings, don’t misunderstand one another’s intentions.”
Officials do not anticipate a breakthrough, but are aiming to build a long-term channel of regular communication with the Chinese government’s new economic team.
While it’s unclear which government officials Yellen will be meeting with in Beijing, she is not expected to meet with Xi. U.S. Treasury secretaries have not typically met with Chinese leaders during visits to the country.
Yellen has long intended to visit China, though then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August — as well as the dramatic February shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States — put those plans on ice.
The Treasury chief and other senior officials have in recent weeks laid out the U.S.-led economic approach to China — saying they hope to “de-risk, not decouple” — in an effort to explain trade and other restrictions on Beijing.
China has rejected the distinction, railing against the U.S. moves as attempts to surround and contain China.
Yellen, who is expected to reiterate this stance during her visit, used an April speech to outline what would ultimately become this position.
“Even as our targeted actions may have economic impacts, they are motivated solely by our concerns about our security and values,” she said in the speech. “Our goal is not to use these tools to gain competitive economic advantage.”
The Treasury secretary is also likely to voice concern about China’s amended espionage law, which took effect Saturday.
The revised law broadens the scope of what are considered spying activities, and its enforcement has raised concerns from expatriates and foreign businesses about the potential for arbitrary detentions and penalties over regular business activities.
The wide-ranging new law allows Chinese authorities to crack down on the transfer of any information related to national security — without defining terms — while also expanding the definition of spying.
In a press release, the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center said Friday that the laws meant American companies and individuals in China could “face penalties for traditional business activities that Beijing deems acts of espionage or for actions that Beijing believes assist foreign sanctions against China.”
The center also said that the measures could compel locally employed Chinese nationals of U.S. firms to assist in Chinese intelligence efforts.
Japan will be watching to see how Yellen’s discussions on the law unfold, as Japanese businesses and investors grow increasingly concerned about it.
In March, a senior employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma was detained by China on suspicion of engaging in spying activities, though it is not known how he allegedly violated the law.
Since the law’s original incarnation came into effect in 2014, 17 Japanese nationals have been detained for alleged involvement in spying, with five still serving sentences.
Yellen will use the four-day visit from Thursday to stress the importance of communicating “directly about areas of concern,” while working together with China “to address global challenges,” the Treasury Department said in a statement Sunday.
China’s Finance Ministry also confirmed Yellen’s trip, which will make her the second Cabinet-level U.S. official to visit the Chinese capital since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.
The visit also comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month. During Blinken’s trip, the top U.S. diplomat met with senior officials and held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with the two agreeing on the need to “stabilize” relations and paving the way for visits to both Beijing and Washington by other top officials.
The Treasury chief is expected to broach contentious subjects such as China’s newly amended counterespionage law and its alleged unfair economic practices. Yellen is also expected to be grilled by her interlocutors over stringent U.S. technology regulations — including on vital semiconductors — that Washington has slapped on Beijing.
“My hope in traveling to China is to re-establish contact,” Yellen said in an interview Wednesday, noting that the Biden team and Chinese leadership, the latter of which was reshuffled in March, need “to get to know one another.”
She said the two countries “need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don’t have misunderstandings, don’t misunderstand one another’s intentions.”
Officials do not anticipate a breakthrough, but are aiming to build a long-term channel of regular communication with the Chinese government’s new economic team.
While it’s unclear which government officials Yellen will be meeting with in Beijing, she is not expected to meet with Xi. U.S. Treasury secretaries have not typically met with Chinese leaders during visits to the country.
Yellen has long intended to visit China, though then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August — as well as the dramatic February shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States — put those plans on ice.
The Treasury chief and other senior officials have in recent weeks laid out the U.S.-led economic approach to China — saying they hope to “de-risk, not decouple” — in an effort to explain trade and other restrictions on Beijing.
China has rejected the distinction, railing against the U.S. moves as attempts to surround and contain China.
Yellen, who is expected to reiterate this stance during her visit, used an April speech to outline what would ultimately become this position.
“Even as our targeted actions may have economic impacts, they are motivated solely by our concerns about our security and values,” she said in the speech. “Our goal is not to use these tools to gain competitive economic advantage.”
The Treasury secretary is also likely to voice concern about China’s amended espionage law, which took effect Saturday.
The revised law broadens the scope of what are considered spying activities, and its enforcement has raised concerns from expatriates and foreign businesses about the potential for arbitrary detentions and penalties over regular business activities.
The wide-ranging new law allows Chinese authorities to crack down on the transfer of any information related to national security — without defining terms — while also expanding the definition of spying.
In a press release, the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center said Friday that the laws meant American companies and individuals in China could “face penalties for traditional business activities that Beijing deems acts of espionage or for actions that Beijing believes assist foreign sanctions against China.”
The center also said that the measures could compel locally employed Chinese nationals of U.S. firms to assist in Chinese intelligence efforts.
Japan will be watching to see how Yellen’s discussions on the law unfold, as Japanese businesses and investors grow increasingly concerned about it.
In March, a senior employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma was detained by China on suspicion of engaging in spying activities, though it is not known how he allegedly violated the law.
Since the law’s original incarnation came into effect in 2014, 17 Japanese nationals have been detained for alleged involvement in spying, with five still serving sentences.