US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will meet her Chinese counterpart Liu He in Zurich this week, in a surprise move that signals Washington and Beijing’s commitment to improving ties between the two nations despite simmering tensions over trade and Taiwan.
The US Treasury said that Yellen would meet vice-premier Liu He, China’s finance minister, in Switzerland on Wednesday morning, ahead of her planned 10-day trip to Africa, during which Yellen intends to entice nations on the continent away from their financial ties to Beijing and Moscow.
It will be the first in-person meeting for Yellen and Liu, who have spoken virtually three times.
Relations between the US and China plunged to a multi-decade low last summer after Beijing launched large-scale military exercises around Taiwan following then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.
Both sides say their positions on the island remain unchanged, with Beijing insisting that Taiwan remains at the core of China’s interests and a red line in US-Chinese relations, and Washington saying it will continue to challenge Beijing on any aggressive actions in the region. Despite this, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping have signalled a desire to improve bilateral ties.
At their first in-person meeting in Bali in November, Biden and Xi agreed to “maintain communication” on a range of issues, including climate change, economic stability and food security, according to a White House readout of the talks.
In addition to Yellen’s newly scheduled meeting with Liu, plans are under way for US secretary of state Antony Blinken to travel to China in early 2023 to continue the dialogue.
A US Treasury official said Yellen and Liu would use their meeting to “exchange views on macroeconomic developments and other economic issues as well as deepen communication between the United States and the People’s Republic of China”.
The official noted that Biden and Xi had agreed in November to “empower key senior officials to maintain communication”.
Yellen is expected to use a 10-day trip to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa beginning this week to deepen US relations with the three democracies in a bid to counter Chinese and Russian influence in the region. She will urge the nations to take a stronger stance against Russia, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The trip comes days after Yellen confirmed that the US was expected to reach its $31.4tn debt ceiling limit on January 19. She has warned new US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that the Treasury will need to take “extraordinary measures” to fulfil its payments, adding that the US could be in danger of defaulting on its debt as early as June.
Yellen’s trip to Africa is the first of several planned US administration trips to the continent this year, with Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris each expected to make their own visits in 2023.
Source: Economy - ft.com
