As part of high-stakes efforts to reestablish connections between the world’s two largest economies, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to travel to China.
It is the second visit to Beijing by a senior Washington official in as numerous months and comes after the nations’ relationship plunged for this present year.
Taiwan, Ukraine, national security, and an ongoing trade dispute are among the disagreements between the US and China.
In addition, the visit comes just a few days after Beijing announced that it would restrict exports of two important components used in computer chips.
Ms Yellen’s new remarks that the two economies can cooperate could be urgent to the excursion, which will incorporate her most memorable discussions with China’s new Bad habit Chief He Lifeng.
In front of the visit, the US accentuated the significance for the nations “to capably deal with our relationship, impart straightforwardly about areas of concern, and work together to address worldwide difficulties”.
Ms. Yellen met with China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, on Monday as part of ongoing efforts to ease tensions. The meeting was described as a “frank and productive discussion” by both parties.
However, Asia Society Policy Institute vice president Wendy Cutler told the BBC that “expectations should be kept low for the Yellen visit.” She is unable to repair ties with China or respond to their requests to lift export restrictions or tariffs.
This most recent trip to China comes just a few weeks after the visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during which he met with President Xi Jinping and Qin Gang, the foreign minister.
Since almost half a decade ago, Mr. Blinken was the highest-ranking Washington official to visit the Chinese capital.
The meetings were seen as an important test to see if the two nations could prevent their relationship from getting any worse.
Toward the finish of his excursion Mr Blinken said that, in spite of the fact that there were as yet significant issues between the US and China, his “trust and assumption is we will have better correspondences, better commitment going ahead.”
However, Beijing’s protests were sparked when President Joe Biden referred to Mr. Xi as a “dictator” the following day. Although analysts stated that Mr. Biden’s comment was unlikely to have a significant impact, it was also widely regarded as detrimental.
China’s announcement this week that it would tighten controls on exports of two materials essential to the production of computer chips is yet another indication that the trade dispute between the two countries is far from being resolved. The export of gallium and germanium from China, the world’s largest producer, will require special licenses beginning next month.
The move follows Washington’s efforts to restrict Chinese access to advanced computer chips over the past year. Companies that export chips to China using US software or tools, regardless of where they are manufactured, were told in October that they would need licenses from Washington.
According to Priyanka Kishore of the business forum IMA Asia, the US and China face a complex set of issues.
She continued, “A desire to establish a working political relationship between the two countries is indicated by the official rhetoric and visits by senior diplomats.” In any case, the activities recommend in any case, with the blow for blow strategies overwhelming.”
It is anticipated that Ms. Yellen will make it abundantly clear to her counterparts in Beijing that the United States will continue to uphold its interests in national security and human rights.
Be that as it may, she is additionally expected to accentuate Washington’s eagerness to work with Beijing on issues, including environmental change and the issues looked by intensely obliged nations.
Ms. Yellen will be more tactful, despite the fact that prominent figures have called for the United States to completely end its economic ties with China. She is expected to inform her Beijing counterparts that Washington has no plans to separate the two economies.
This is consistent with her worldview, which she outlined in a speech earlier this year and is more globalist than some of her predecessors: It would be disastrous for both countries if our economies were completely separated. The rest of the world would suffer as a result of this.”
“I would agree that it’s somewhat similar to great cop, awful cop, Blinken being the terrible cop,” previous Global Financial Asset boss business analyst Ken Rogoff told the BBC.
“What’s more, presently Yellen going in as the great cop attempting to say, look, you know, we share a ton practically speaking. We should find out what we can do together,” he added.
Mr. Blinken had to talk about difficult topics like Taiwan and Ukraine as secretary of state, Mr. Rogoff said.
Mr. Rogoff, on the other hand, cautioned that this should not be taken as a sign that Ms. Yellen will be soft on Beijing because she is likely to press Chinese officials on a number of issues, such as access to markets and intellectual property laws.
Additionally, despite the fact that some figures on both sides of the US-China divide talk about separating from one another, figures on trade demonstrate the interdependence.
According to official statistics, China exported goods worth more than $536 billion (£422.3 billion) to the United States last year, while goods worth $154 billion were sent the other way. This marked the third consecutive year of growth in trade between the two nations in 2022.
However, the US presidential election looms large despite Washington and Beijing’s efforts to resolve their differences.
Professor Eric Harwit of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii stated, “If there is a second Biden administration beginning after 2024, on the economic front I expect loosening of many of the Trump-era trade sanctions and tariffs, in particular ones less related to high technology sectors.”
“However, if Donald Trump wins the election in 2024, everything goes wrong.”
