Yellen, China’s Liu meet as global rivals seek to limit conflict
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Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He (left) and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shake hands ahead of their meeting.
PHOTO: AFP
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ZURICH – The top US and Chinese economic officials met on Wednesday in Zurich, the latest effort to improve contacts and communication between the two global competitors after a period of heightened tensions.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen greeted her Chinese counterpart, Vice-Premier Liu He, as the leading political and economic powers seek to revive engagement even as they spar over a number of flashpoints – from technology to trade and debt to Taiwan and Ukraine.
“We share a responsibility to show that China and the United States can manage our differences and prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict,” Dr Yellen said in brief public remarks before the pair met behind closed doors.
“While we have areas of disagreement – and we will convey them directly – we should not allow misunderstandings, particularly those stemming from a lack of communication, to unnecessarily worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship,” she said.
On his part, Mr Liu told Dr Yellen their countries need “serious communication” and coordination on issues including climate change and the economy and that he was ready for an in-depth exchange.
“We do believe that we have to always bear in mind the bigger picture, try to manage our differences appropriately and seek common ground,” he said. “In this way, hopefully we can work together to maintain the overall stability of Chinese-US relations.”
Mr Liu said he agreed with Dr Yellen that the two countries should always maintain dialogue and exchanges, no matter how circumstances change.
He added: “That is why I am very much ready to work together to seize the opportunity we have today, Madam Secretary, to carry out professional, in-depth, frank and pragmatic exchanges.”
The Zurich meeting is not expected to resolve any key issues.
Any rapport with Mr Liu in his current role will also likely be short-lived.
That is because he is expected to step down in the coming months as Chinese President Xi Jinping appoints a new inner circle.
It does, however, mark a modest step forward in a period of renewed engagement that began cautiously in 2022.
President Joe Biden and Mr Xi held their first face-to-face meeting in November
“We’re certainly seeing more engagement between the US and China,” the International Monetary Fund’s No. 2 official Gita Gopinath told Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
“These meetings are critical. These are the two largest economies in the world. It’s important for the rest of the world that they work closely together.”
Dr Yellen has pushed for “friend-shoring” to bolster supply chains by reducing the reliance on China by the US and its allies for critical goods. Meanwhile, the US is trying to deny China access to certain technologies, including advanced semiconductors, leading Beijing to accuse Washington of economic protectionism.
The Biden administration has kept in place a set of tariffs imposed under former president Donald Trump and confronted Beijing over what it sees as human rights abuses,
“They’re talking in a way that maybe avoids unintended escalation of tensions,” Ms Rachel Ziemba, senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, said before the meeting. There are also global issues, such as climate change or developing-nation debt, “that can’t be solved, can’t be addressed, without the US and China talking to each other”.
Dr Yellen has called on China to step up its engagement with multilateral efforts to renegotiate the debts of some of the world’s poorest countries.
Her stop in Zurich comes on her way to Africa, where she will visit Zambia, which is struggling to restructure US$12.8 billion (S$17 billion) of external debt, one-third of which is owed to China.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
