U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, center, waits with others to receive Chinese President Xi Jinping at San Francisco International Airport on Nov. 14, 2023, ahead of Xi’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
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BEIJING – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected to arrive in China on Thursday ahead of four full days of meetings with Chinese officials.
It is his second trip to the country since the summer, as the United States and China seek to increase high-level communication in an otherwise tense relationship. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also visit China again later this year.
“I think our expectation is that at the senior levels, and increasingly at all levels, we will continue to have an ongoing and in-depth dialogue. We have gone on too long with too little communication and misunderstandings have developed,” Yellen told the journalists before his arrival in China.
His trip will cover the southern city of Guangzhou – the capital of China’s export-heavy Guangdong province – and the national capital of Beijing, according to a news release.
Here is his complete itinerary of meetings:
- Friday 5 April — meet with Vice Premier He Lifeng, Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong, economic experts and business representatives from AmCham China
- Saturday 6 April — continue meetings with Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng
- Sunday 7 April — meet with Premier Li Qiang, Finance Minister Lan Fo’an, Beijing Mayor Yin Yong, leading Chinese economists and students and professors of Peking University
- Monday 8 April – meet with former vice premier Liu He and the governor of the People’s Bank of China 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 is facing growing global scrutiny over how the country’s emphasis on developing its own manufacturing capabilities, including the use of subsidies and policy support to do so, has helped Chinese companies sell products such as solar panels at much lower prices than producers in other countries. .
In March, European Union Chamber of Commerce President Jens Eskelund said trade tensions between the EU and China were likely to increase as a result.
According to Wind Information, Guangdong is by far the first Chinese province in terms of export value.
The province exported nearly 5.4 trillion yuan ($750 billion) of manufacturing products last year, including two-thirds equipment, according to Tu Gaokun, director of Guangdong’s industry and information technology department.
He told reporters last week that the province is “committed” to improving productivity and highlighted how it aims to develop sectors such as new energy storage, biomanufacturing and commercial aviation.
Fight against “illicit finance”
During her meetings in China, Yellen will also work “to expand bilateral cooperation in combating illicit finance, which can lead to important advances in shared efforts against criminal activities such as drug trafficking and fraud,” Treasury said.
He added that Yellen will discuss working to strengthen financial stability, address climate change and resolve the debt emergency in developing countries.
The trip will mark Yellen’s third meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng, who the Treasury secretary will also meet later this month at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Washington, DC.
He Lifeng is also director of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs office, a role previously held by Liu.