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Controls on investment in China would only target sensitive national security sectors, Janet Yellen told her counterparts in Beijing during a four-day visit aimed at putting a "floor" under their turbulent relationship. Speaking at a news conference on the final day of her visit, which included meetings with Premier Li Qiang and his counterpart He Lifeng, the US Treasury secretary said she wanted to allay concerns about the damage to the US economy. China over possible national security action. Throughout her visit, Yellen has spoken about the potential of ongoing trade and economic cooperation between the U.S. and China, highlighting Washington's desire to stabilize the relationship even as China finds it more difficult to obtain U.S. technology. . The Biden administration is now considering a mechanism to reduce the risk that U.S. investment will help China's military. “I emphasized that [investment screening] would be very targeted and clearly narrowly targeted at a few sectors where we have specific national security concerns,” Yellen said.
Over the course of her visit, Yellen reiterated that it was important to have high-level engagement between Washington and Beijing despite security concerns. “Even when we disagree, I think there is clear value in frank and Job Function Email Database in-depth discussions,” Yellen said. Yellen said she had raised concerns with her counterparts about everything from security and human rights to an "increase in enforcement actions against American companies." “I also raised the importance of ending Russia's brutal and illegal war against Ukraine,” he added in remarks shortly before leaving Beijing. “I communicated that it is essential that Chinese companies avoid providing Russia with material support or assistance in evading sanctions.” His visit came as China grapples with a disappointing economic recovery after the lifting of Covid controls. While China is targeting five percent growth this year, economists fear that some underlying growth drivers, such as the real estate sector, are entering a prolonged recession.
This has led the government to seek more foreign investment. But tensions with the U.S. have shaken confidence, and companies are worried about being caught up in tit-for-tat trade sanctions and increasingly strict national security measures. China's state media generally gave subdued coverage of Yellen's visit. The Xinhua news agency described the talks as "constructive" and "pragmatic" but said Beijing believes that "generalizing" national security issues "is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges." The nationalist Global Times was more effusive, quoting China's No. 2 official, Premier Li Qiang, telling Yellen that "China-US ties may see 'rainbows' after a round of 'wind and rain.'" Dennis Wilder, a former CIA China expert now at Georgetown University, said Chinese leaders “clearly view Secretary Yellen as one of the most pragmatic and least political senior officials in the Biden administration.” “They also assess that economic and trade relations have historically been the drag on US-China relations, stabilizing ties even when issues like Taiwan or the Tiananmen crackdown disrupted the relationship,” Wilder added.
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發表於 14:36:27