Key Takeaways
- The US Treasury Secretary will make a second trip to China next year to discuss economic and climate matters.
- Yellen highlighted the need for better bilateral communication to avoid dangerous escalations.
- Both nations aim to strengthen cooperation among financial regulators and address sovereign debt restructuring challenges.
- The visit will also focus on joint efforts to tackle climate change and improve the international financial architecture.
Washington: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, during remarks at a US-China Business Council dinner, announced her plan to visit China next year.
The purpose of the trip is to hold talks with her Chinese counterpart on a range of challenging issues.
“I plan to take my second trip to China as Treasury Secretary, where a significant portion of the agenda will focus on discussing difficult areas of concern with my counterpart,” Yellen said Thursday.
Yellen, in her remarks, laid out the Treasury Department’s priorities for next year, which will focus on continuing to responsibly manage the US-China economic relationship. However, Yellen highlighted that the US will not attempt to resolve all of the disagreements between the two countries because it would be an unrealistic goal.
Moreover, Yellen said both sides will work on strengthening bilateral communication with the hope that it will help prevent misunderstandings that could lead to a dangerous escalation. The US will maintain its commitment to clear communication on its actions, from its restrictions on US investment in China to sanctions, Yellen said.
The US and China will also facilitate exchanges between their financial regulators, such as what the United States does regularly with other major financial centers such as the European Union and the United Kingdom, Yellen said.
Yellen said the US will continue to push for the two countries to jointly address global challenges, including issues related to climate change.
The US, Yellen said, also wants to seek faster progress on China’s sovereign debt restructurings in outstanding cases and advocate for needed changes to the debt architecture. The US will also continue to look for ways to continue partnering with China to strengthen the international financial architecture, including through evolving the multilateral development banks, Yellen said.
