The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit China from July 6 to 9 in order to participate in multiple official meetings with Chinese officials on several matters, including US concerns about new Chinese counterespionage, said a senior Treasury official, as reported by news agency Reuters. Yellen’s visit is scheduled to take place under President Joe Biden’s plans to deepen, expand and stabilise communications between the world's two largest economies and improve the relationship. Officials also said the trip is aimed at minimising the risks of mistakes when disagreements arise.
Yellen’s planned visit comes just weeks after secretary of state Antony Blinken met President Xi Jinping and foreign minister Qin Gang in Beijing in June. The main objective of the meeting for Treasury officials is to hold constructive conversations and build longer-term channels of communication with China's new economic team.
The US Department of The Treasury, in its official release, said the vist will seek to secure the national security interests of the United States along with those of its allies and to protect human rights through targeted actions that are not intended to gain economic advantage.
It also said, “We seek a healthy economic relationship with China that fosters mutually beneficial growth and innovation and expands economic opportunity for American workers and businesses.”
Officials during the meeting will also seek to cooperate on urgent global challenges like climate change and debt distress. An official said, as quoted by Reuters, "We seek a healthy economic relationship with China, one that fosters growth and innovation in both countries.”
The official further said, "We do not seek to decouple our economies. A full cessation of trade and investment would be destabilising for both our countries and the global economy." During the visit, Yellen is also expected to meet the Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The US Treasury also has plans to convey to China that Washington will continue to defend human rights and its national security interests via targeted actions against China. Officials, accompanying Yellen, will also express their concerns about the Uyghur Muslim minority and their human rights violations.
Some other matters that will be brought up during the discussion include China's recent decision to impose a ban on the sale of Micron Technology memory chips. However, the US wants to work with Beijing on urgent challenges like climate change and debt distress faced by many countries.
Yellen will also highlight Washington's aim to strengthen its own competitiveness when it comes to responding to its allies. This will be done to counter China’s "economic coercion" and other unfair economic practices, said the first official, as reported by Reuters.
Yellen will also focus on a long-awaited US executive action restricting outbound investment in China in many important sectors. Another important matter that will be emphasised during the meeting is China's new national security and espionage law. Its implications on US firms will be discussed.
An official said, as quoted by Reuters, "We have concerns with the new measure, and how it might apply, that it could expand the scope of what is considered by the authorities in China to be espionage activity.”