Relations between Washington and Beijing are currently strained. Nevertheless, there is still close contact. After Secretary of State Blinken, US Treasury Secretary Yellen will soon be traveling to China.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is expected in Beijing this week amid strained relations between China and the United States. As her ministry announced, Yellen will travel to China from Thursday to Sunday. Her visit follows US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing in May and is intended to re-establish greater use of communication channels between the two sides.
According to the US Treasury Department’s website, their talks will cover, among other things, macroeconomic and financial developments in the world. In Beijing, Yellen wanted to talk about how important it is for the two largest economies to “handle their relationships responsibly, communicate directly about problem areas and work together to tackle global challenges.”
Espionage law concerns foreign companies
Yellen also wants to convey “concern” in Beijing about a counter-espionage law that came into force in China on Saturday. The law gives the Chinese authorities more leeway than before to intervene in the activities of foreign entities when there is a threat to national security.
This is raising concern among foreign companies operating in China. Yellen and her team hoped “for a better understanding of how China wants to implement this law,” it said in Washington.
difficult requirements
The US Treasury Secretary had repeatedly expressed reservations about China and, precisely because of the many differences, emphasized the need to reestablish contacts and to enter into discussions with the new government in China installed by the party leadership in March.
However, relations are at a low ebb. US President Joe Biden’s tough course on China, the ongoing trade war, China’s support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine, China’s territorial claims in the South and East China Seas and Beijing’s threats to the democratic island republic of Taiwan are straining relations .
The US President recently caused new irritation when he compared the Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping to a dictator, which Beijing angrily rejected.