During the four days of the visit, Yellen insisted on the need for more exchanges and cooperation with China, despite the two powers’ deep disagreements.
“We believe the world is big enough for our two countries to thrive,” he told reporters at the US Embassy in Beijing on Sunday.
“The two countries have an obligation to responsibly manage this relationship and find a way to live together and share global prosperity,” he added.
The visit promoted US President Joe Biden’s agenda to deepen relations with China while emphasizing Washington’s positions.
Although the visit did not result in specific agreements, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported Saturday night that Yelin’s meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng led to an agreement to “strengthen communication and cooperation in tackling global challenges.”
He added that the two sides agreed to continue exchanges.
approaches and tensions
Yellen stressed that despite the “significant contradictions” between the two countries, she was able to have “direct, substantive and fruitful” talks with the Chinese authorities.
“My bilateral meetings, which lasted 10 hours over two days, were a step forward in our efforts to put the US-China relationship on a more solid footing,” he said.
Topping the list of disputes are trade restrictions, which the United States says aim to limit China’s access to advanced technology it deems crucial to its national security.
Yellen said Sunday that the United States will continue “targeted measures” to maintain its national security, but that such trade restrictions are not intended to “extract economic benefits.”
He stressed that his government’s actions seek to be “transparent, limited in scope and directed towards clear goals (…) We do not use them to obtain an economic advantage.”
He also said he raised “serious concerns” about what he called “Beijing’s unfair trade practices”.
He cited barriers to foreign companies entering the Chinese market, as well as issues of intellectual property protection.
“I have also expressed concern about the recent increase in enforcement action against US companies,” he said, referring to the recent national security crackdown on US advisory services in China.
“excited”
Looking ahead, “the two governors are supposed to announce any concrete progress and major results,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.
“The two sides have not had this level of contacts and consultations for many years,” he told AFP.
Biden expressed confidence in June that he would meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping soon.
Lindsey Gorman of the US German Marshall Fund commented that “the main purpose of this trip is to send a message.”
Among the messages, he conveyed how Washington views its economic relationship with China and dispelled the notion that it would embrace “zero-sum competition” while indicating that it seeks a more level playing field.
Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, said Yellen’s visit overall seemed “more enthusiastic” than the recent visit by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“China views Yelin as a professional, and her attitude towards China-US economic and trade relations is relatively rational,” Wu added.
“I don’t think a single visit can achieve the goal of stabilizing relations,” Taylor Fravel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told AFP.
He added that Yellen’s visit and her statements express support for continued cooperation between the United States and China, “despite the political friction in the relationship and competitive moves to limit China’s access to certain technologies, such as semiconductors.”
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