Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, after 10 hours of meetings with Chinese officials, said the two sides would pursue “more frequent communication” despite their deep differences.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen came to China amid hopes that the United States could restart a relationship that has been deteriorating for years and had gotten off the rails recently over significant points of tension — including the war in Ukraine, a Chinese spy balloon that flew over U.S. territory and was shot down by the American military, and the two countries’ escalating exchange of restrictions on trade.
After 10 hours of meetings over two days in Beijing, Ms. Yellen said at a news conference on Sunday that she believed the United States and China were on a steadier footing despite their “significant disagreements.”
“We believe that the world is big enough for both of our countries to thrive,” Ms. Yellen said.
Ms. Yellen announced that the two sides would pursue more frequent communication at the highest levels, describing improved dialogue as a way to prevent mistrust from building and fraying a relationship that she called “one of the most consequential of our time.” Her trip followed one a few weeks by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. And later this month, John Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate change, will visit China to restart global warming negotiations.
Yet a meaningful easing of the economic tension may not be likely. Ms. Yellen headed back to Washington on Sunday with no announcements of breakthroughs or agreements to mend the persistent fissures between the two nations. And Ms. Yellen made clear that the Biden administration has serious concerns about many of China’s commercial practices, including its treatment of foreign companies, and policies that the United States views as efforts at economic coercion.
On her trip, the first by a U.S. Treasury secretary in four years, Ms. Yellen met with four of the most powerful Chinese leaders involved in economic policymaking under President Xi Jinping, who is at the start of his third term in office: Premier Li Qiang, China’s No. 2 official; Ms. Yellen’s counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng; the finance minister, Liu Kun; and the newly installed party chief of the People’s Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng.
Hours before Ms. Yellen’s news conference, China’s official news agency, Xinhua, issued a report on her visit that described the talks as constructive but also reiterated what China sees as key areas of dispute. The report expressed China’s continued objections to the Biden administration’s emphasis on preserving American national security through trade restrictions.
“China believes that generalizing national security is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges,” Xinhua said. “The Chinese side expressed concern about U.
