ZURICH, Jan 18 (Portal) – US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agreed with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to improve communication on macroeconomic and financial issues during a “sincere, substantive and constructive” meeting in Zurich on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said.
In a statement, the Treasury said the two sides had agreed to increase cooperation on climate finance on a bilateral and multilateral basis, such as within the United Nations, the Group of 20 economies and APEC.
“Although we have disagreements and will mediate them directly, we should not allow misunderstandings, especially those stemming from a lack of communication, to unnecessarily deteriorate our bilateral economic and financial ties,” Yellen said at the start of the meeting.
Liu said both countries need “serious communication” and coordination on issues such as climate change and economy, and he is ready for in-depth exchanges.
“We believe that we must always keep the bigger picture in mind, try to appropriately manage our differences and seek common ground,” Liu said through an interpreter. “In this way, we can hopefully work together to maintain the overall stability of Sino-US relations.”
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to step up communications when they met in Indonesia in November.
“Both sides agreed that it is important for the functioning of the global economy to further improve communication on macroeconomic and financial issues,” the Treasury said after Yellen and Liu’s meeting.
“Secretary Yellen also raised concerns in an open exchange of views,” she added. “She looks forward to traveling to China and welcoming her colleagues to the United States in the near future.”
A senior Treasury official said that during the nearly three-hour meeting, Yellen and Liu agreed that both countries could take steps to avert recessions in their own economies and the two delegations had a productive discussion on sovereign debt issues, food security and energy.
Regarding the economic outlook, Chinese officials are aware of the real estate sector’s financial risks but optimistic that they are getting closer to normal growth, the official said of the meeting, the first in-person since Yellen became secretary.
The Chinese side expressed concern about US economic, trade and technology policies towards China and hopes that the US will pay attention to how these policies affect both countries, China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
“China welcomes Yellen to visit China at an appropriate time this year. Both countries agreed that their economic and trade teams will continue to maintain communication and exchanges at all levels,” it said.
Washington imposed export controls on China in October to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances, including measures to limit China’s access to US chipmaking tools and cut it off from certain chips made with American equipment around the world.
EXPAND COLLABORATION
Liu, a confidant of Xi, on Tuesday urged global leaders gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum to abandon what he called a “Cold War mentality” and expand international cooperation on issues like climate change.
Yellen and other top US officials say the US economy should be able to skip a recession in 2023 but concede slower growth is likely.
China’s economic growth is expected to rebound after eased COVID-19 restrictions from mid-2023, after collapsing to one of its worst levels in nearly half a century.
The IMF has warned against decoupling the world economy into two competing blocs as this could reduce global economic output by up to 7% and even more in vulnerable countries.
Yellen’s meeting with Liu comes ahead of a three-country visit to Africa, where she will push to expand US trade and business ties with the long-Chinese-dominated continent.
She is also expected to repeat her criticism of Beijing – now the world’s largest creditor – for not acting faster to provide debt relief, its use of forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region and “non-market forces”. “ Economic Practices.
Yellen has met with Liu virtually three times since taking office and met with China’s central bank governor Yi Gang in Bali, Indonesia. Liu will step down this year as part of an overhaul of China’s economic governance announced in September.
In December, Yellen told reporters she is also open to visiting China and looks forward to “more intensive interactions” with Chinese officials.
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Reporting by Andrea Shaal; Edited by Josie Kao, Nick Macfie, Jan Harvey and Jonathan Oatis
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