US Treasury Secretary Yellen: The United States will not seek to decouple from China. China | Yellen | The United States
US Treasury Secretary Yellen stated at today's press conference that it has been noted that China's development has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and the US will not seek to decouple from China. The decoupling of the world's two largest economies would be catastrophic for both countries.
Is the dialogue mechanism in the financial and economic fields between China and the United States rebuilt? Yellen: This visit aims to establish a "willingness" for both sides to work together
On the morning of July 9th, visiting US Treasury Secretary Yellen held a press conference at the US Embassy in China. This is Yellen's first visit to China as Secretary of the Treasury and the second US cabinet level official to visit China in less than three weeks after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"There are significant differences between the United States and China. These differences require clear and direct communication. However, neither President Biden nor I have viewed the US China relationship from the perspective of a 'major power conflict'. Yellen pointed out at the beginning of her speech that both countries have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship, and stated that her purpose of this trip is to establish and deepen relations with China's new economic team, in order to stabilize the relationship between the two countries, reduce the risk of misunderstandings, and explore areas of cooperation.".
On July 9th, US Treasury Secretary Yellen held a press conference in Beijing. Photo by reporter Shi Hanwei from Pengpai News
Yellen introduced that in the past two days, she has had 10 hours of bilateral talks with Chinese officials such as Premier Li Qiang and Vice Premier He Lifeng. In her opinion, these communications are "direct, substantive, and effective".
At the press conference that day, Yellen also stated that she reiterated the position of the United States not seeking to "decouple" from China during her talks with Chinese officials. The reason is that as the two major economies in the world, once China and the United States decouple, the impact on both countries will be catastrophic and will also bring instability to the world. However, she also mentioned that there is a significant difference between the diversification of key supply chains adopted by the US and decoupling.
When asked whether China and the United States are preparing to rebuild a dialogue mechanism in the next step, which has attracted much attention from the outside world, Yellen responded that this visit to China provides an opportunity for US officials to meet with China's new economic team to establish a "willingness" for both sides to work together. The two sides will discuss topics with differences and explore how to deepen exchanges.
"I look forward to more frequent communication between officials from both the United States and China on all the issues discussed, and there is still a lot of work to be done." She also admitted that "there are no specific matters to be announced regarding the future progress of the two countries.". However, she still expressed confidence that "the United States and China will have more frequent and regular communication, and will benefit from it."
According to previous reports, Premier Li Qiang met with Yellen in Beijing on July 7th. Li Qiang stated that strengthening cooperation is a practical need and correct choice for China and the United States, while Yellen stated that the US does not seek to "decouple and break the chain". On the same day, Pan Gongsheng, Secretary of the Party Committee of the People's Bank of China and Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, met with Yellen. On July 8th, Vice Premier of the State Council and China US economic and trade leader He Lifeng met with Yellen in Beijing.
According to Bloomberg on the 7th, citing officials from the US Treasury Department, Yellen also met with China's economic policy veteran Liu He, former Vice Premier of the State Council, and the Governor of the People's Bank of China, Yi Gang, on the morning of the 7th. At the press conference, Yellen also mentioned meeting with several female economists during the visit.
