US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shakes hands with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng before a dinner in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on April 5, 2024.
Pedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s comments on China’s excess manufacturing capacity seek to rehash the “China threat” rhetoric and appear to create a pretext for more protectionist policies by the United States, Chinese state media said.
Such comments seek to undermine China’s domestic growth and international cooperation, and Washington should focus on promoting innovation and competitiveness within its borders instead of resorting to alarmism, state news agency Xinhua said in an editorial on Friday evening.
Yellen told US business leaders in China’s southern export hub of Guangzhou on Friday that concerns are growing about the global economic fallout from China’s excess manufacturing capacity, putting the issue at the center of her four days of meetings with Chinese officials.
Citing China’s overproduction of electric vehicles, solar panels, semiconductors and other goods that are flooding into global markets amid a collapse in demand in China’s domestic market, Yellen said this is unhealthy for China and is hurting manufacturers of other countries.
“Talking about ‘Chinese overcapacity’ in the clean energy sector also means creating a pretext to implement more protectionist policies to protect US companies,” Xinhua said.
“After all, it is now known to the world that Washington will not hesitate to bare its protectionist teeth under the guise of national security in areas where its supremacy is challenged.”
Yellen met with Vice Premier He Lifeng and Guangdong Province Governor Wang Weizhong in Guangzhou after arriving in China on Thursday evening.
He will travel to Beijing on Saturday, where he will meet with officials including Premier Li Qiang and People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng until Monday, according to a Treasury press notice.