U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen (center) waits with others to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping at San Francisco International Airport on November 14, 2023, ahead of Xi’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
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BEIJING – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was scheduled to arrive in China on Thursday ahead of four full days of meetings with Chinese officials.
It is their second trip to the country since the summer as the U.S. and China seek to improve high-level communications in an otherwise strained relationship. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also visit China again later this year.
“I think our expectation is that we will continue to have an ongoing and in-depth dialogue at the leadership level and increasingly at all levels. “We spent too long with too little communication and there were misunderstandings,” Yellen told reporters before her arrival in China.
According to a press release, their trip will include the southern city of Guangzhou – the capital of China’s export-heavy Guangdong province – and the national capital Beijing.
Here is their full schedule of meetings:
- Friday, April 5th – Meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng, Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong, economic experts and business representatives from AmCham China
- Saturday April 6th – Continued meetings with Vice Premier He Lifeng
- Sunday April 7th – Meeting with Prime Minister Li Qiang, Finance Minister Lan Fo’an, Beijing Mayor Yin Yong, leading Chinese economists, and students and professors from Peking University
- Monday, April 8th – Meeting with former Vice Premier Liu He and People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng
What will they talk about?
According to the Treasury Department, Yellen will discuss “unfair trade practices” and highlight the global economic consequences of China’s industrial overcapacity.
China has come under increasing criticism around the world over how the country’s emphasis on expanding its manufacturing capacity, including using subsidies and political support for it, has helped Chinese companies sell products such as solar panels at far lower prices than manufacturers in other countries .
In March, European Union Chamber of Commerce President Jens Eskelund said trade tensions between the EU and China were likely to escalate as a result.
According to Wind Information, Guangdong is by far the province with the highest export value in China in terms of export value.
According to Tu Gaokun, director of Guangdong’s Industry and Information Technology Department, the province exported nearly 5.4 trillion yuan ($750 billion) of industrial products last year, with equipment accounting for two-thirds.
He told reporters last week the province is “committed” to improving productivity, noting it aims to build sectors such as new energy storage, biomanufacturing and commercial aviation.
Fighting “illegal financing”
During their meetings in China, Yellen will also “work to expand bilateral cooperation in combating illicit finance, which can advance important progress in joint efforts against criminal activities such as drug trafficking and fraud,” the Treasury Department said.
She added that Yellen will discuss work on strengthening financial stability, combating climate change and resolving the debt crisis in developing countries.
The trip marks Yellen’s third meeting with Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng, whom the Treasury secretary will also meet at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington, DC later this month
He Lifeng is also director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, a role formerly held by Liu.
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2024-04-04 01:28:21
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