Yellen calls China journey ‘constructive’ in midst of US tensions

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen known as a go to to China “constructive” regardless of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.

“What I can let you know is that I had a really constructive go to. I acquired a heat welcome, and had [a] very substantive collection of conferences,” Yellen mentioned on CBS Information’s “Face the Nation” in response to a query from moderator Margaret Brennan about whether or not “pressure has been smoothed over” after the Chinese language spy balloon incident earlier this 12 months. 

Yellen mentioned she had “round 10 hours of conferences” with Chinese language Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier He Lifeng, finance minister Liu Kun and the Folks’s Financial institution of China (PBOC) head Pan Gongsheng. 

“We had substantive conversations concerning the international economic system, developments in our personal economies, monetary markets, and a listing of considerations that every of us delivered to the desk that we agreed to comply with up on over time,” Yellen mentioned.

Yellen’s go to to Beijing comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited final month. Blinken’s journey had been initially deliberate for February, however was postponed amid controversy over the Chinese language spy balloon shot down by the U.S. army after it flew over a lot of the nation.

U.S.-China tensions have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, financial points, China’s relationship with Russia amid Moscow’s warfare on Ukraine, Chinese language aggression within the South China Sea and different components. Yellen and Blinken’s journeys have been a part of an effort from the U.S. to ease these tensions. 

Yellen throughout her go to urged cooperation on local weather change and different worldwide points. She additionally informed Brennan that she raised a bunch of considerations, together with the remedy of some American firms by the hands of Chinese language authorities.

Yellen additionally left the door open for an government order the administration is contemplating that might put restrictions on what American firms in China might put money into.

“It’s nonetheless one thing being mentioned within the administration and the timing of it’s not- will not be but sure. However I wished to elucidate to my Chinese language counterparts that if we go ahead with these- with this government order, that we’ll achieve this in a clear and narrowly focused approach,” she mentioned.