US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ended her closely-watched trip to China with "productive" talks with senior Chinese officials, as the two sides agreed to implement the important understandings reached by the two heads of state in Bali, and strengthen communication and cooperation on addressing global challenges.
Some Chinese experts believe Yellen's visit is a sign the potential for coordination and cooperation between China and the US is there, with more senior US commerce and trade officials expected to visit China as part of the US' efforts to manage differences and stabilize China-US relations, which are at a historic low point.
However, despite a series of recent exchanges, the US is unlikely to change its strategy of "decoupling" from, cracking down on and competing with China amid the distorted political atmosphere in Washington, experts said, urging the US side to match words with deeds in order to stabilize bilateral relations and abandon the zero-sum and Cold War mentality to push bilateral relations back onto the right track.
China reiterated its position on bilateral economic and trade relations with the US and expressed its concerns during the just-concluded Yellen's visit to China, said Liao Min, deputy director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs and vice Finance Minister.
Economic and trade teams from the two sides held long and candid talks, Liao said in response to media inquiry on Sunday. The two sides also discussed macroeconomic issues and global challenges and will maintain communication in the future, Liao noted.
"Gain" rather than "risk"
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Friday met with Yellen, stressing that China's development is an opportunity rather than a challenge for the US, and a gain rather than a risk, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"Chinese culture values peace above everything else, as opposed to hegemony and bullying," Li said. It is hoped that the US will uphold a rational and pragmatic attitude, and work with China in the same direction to push bilateral relations back onto the right track at an early date.
Meanwhile, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and several other senior Chinese officials including new Party chief of the People's Bank of China Pan Gongsheng and Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun also met Yellen.
Yellen said on Sunday that her around 10-hour talks with senior Chinese officials were "direct" and "productive" and will help to stabilize the often rocky relationship, Reuters reported.
"The US and China 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," Yellen told reporters at a press conference at the US embassy in Beijing, according to the report.
"Yellen's trip, which comes less than a month after US Secretary of State Blinken's China visit, is an achievement, showing a positive sign that the two sides are willing to maintain candid and constructive dialogues to manage differences and avoid conflicts although they have major differences," He Weiwen, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times on Sunday.
He Weiwen said China and the US have been restarting institutional communications, with more senior US commerce and trade officials expected to visit China. "The two sides agreed to explore the establishment of working groups to handle specific differences during Blinken's visit, and relevant work will continue after Yellen's visit," He said, noting that it's out of the US' need to solve its internal problems.
In the economic realm, the US is walking a tightrope trying to curb swelling debt growth and substantial inflation without sinking its economy, and it needs cooperation with China to solve these thorny problems, experts said.
"The US side should use the important window of opportunity ahead of the 2024 US presidential election to ease tensions with China and push for pragmatic cooperation," Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Liu said there were more than 100 exchange mechanisms between China and the US before US former president Donald Trump took office, and currently the two sides are heading toward restoring those communications, but there are great challenges ahead.
Challenges persist
Yellen's visit and following exchanges between the two countries will unlikely help much in repairing China-US relationship that has further deteriorated after the "balloon incident" and the Biden administration's intensifying move to suppress and contain China, experts said.
While fundamentally seeing China as a strategic rival, the US is mulling new restrictions on investments in certain industries in China and on artificial intelligence chips to the country, as part of its comprehensive strategy to contain China, according to media reports.
The crux of worsening China-US relationship is the distorted political atmosphere in the US which, if not resolved, will unlikely see China-US relationship return to healthy and sound track, according to Shen Yi, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University.
"The problem is whether the US' top leader and his policy team are ready to undertake national mission, show political responsibility and take an attitude that is responsible to history," Shen told the Global Times.
It's hard for the US to abandon its tech blockade and other unreasonable foreign policies toward China, which is a political action serving its so-called national security strategy, He Weiwen said, urging the US side to re-think its positioning.
Despite rising geopolitical tensions between China and the US, trade between the two countries maintains strong growth momentum. According to data released by the US-China Business Council, US exports to China reached a record high of $151.3 billion in 2022, up 1.2 percent year-on-year. The report said around 1.06 million American jobs were supported by US exports of goods and services to China in 2021.
"We should maintain firm confidence for the realization of future goal," Shen said, referring to the improvement of China-US relations. He said China should continue to enhance its own capability in the right direction while diversifying counter-measures against the US' zero-sum game.
Photo: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng meets with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Beijing, on July 8, 2023. Pan Gongsheng, Party chief of the People's Bank of China, and Liu Kun, Chinese Minister of Finance also met Yellen during her trip © AFP.
Source: The Global Times.
