United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stressed the need for “healthy economic relations” between China and the US.
United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stressed the need for “healthy economic relations” between China and the US, while pressing Beijing to crack down on Chinese firms assisting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Yellen said Washington did not seek to decouple the US and Chinese economies, but President Joe Biden’s administration would not shy away from unilateral action against Chinese firms that supply defence equipment to Moscow.
“We do not seek to decouple our economy from China’s,” Yellen told reporters after a two-day meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in San Francisco.
“This would be damaging to both the US and China and destabilising to the world.”
Yellen said that Treasury has seen evidence of Chinese firms and banks “facilitating” the flow of equipment to Moscow and they would face “significant consequences”.
“We are concerned that in spite of a sanctions programmes that we’ve put in place, that equipment that is critical to Russia’s military effort is nevertheless evading sanctions and being delivered to Russia,” she said, adding that she was not accusing the Chinese government of complicity.
Yellen added that she had accepted an invitation from He to return to China next year as part of a “regular cadence of contact” between the economic leaders.
The meeting came ahead of sit-down talks between Biden and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, who will travel to San Francisco next week for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of leaders from around the Pacific.
US-China relations nosedived under former US President Donald Trump, who rolled out tariffs and sanctions against Chinese firms to boost domestic manufacturing and punish Beijing over alleged rights abuses.
Ties have remained strained under Biden, who has continued his predecessor’s efforts to restore US manufacturing and throttle Chinese tech firms.
Biden has been taking steps to kick-start a thaw in recent months with a flurry of visits and diplomacy by senior officials.
In January, Yellen had her first face-to-face meeting with former Vice Premier Liu He, and in July she visited China to discuss economic policies and cooperation on climate change and other global challenges.
What Trump’s executive orders tell us about the future of immigration
- 8 hours ago
PM Shehbaz sends letter of congratulations to US President Trump
- 4 hours ago
The frustrating reason we’re not saving more kids from malaria
- 8 hours ago
Pakistan demands accountability for Israeli crimes
- 10 hours ago
Six terrorists neutralised in Balochistan’s Zhob district: ISPR
- 5 hours ago
Trump pardons Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht
- 10 hours ago
Gold price plunges Rs750 per tola in Pakistan
- 8 hours ago
Govt to install CCTV cameras in Karachi colleges
- 11 hours ago
PM Shehbaz launches World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Pakistan
- 5 hours ago
Saudi Arabia to invest $600bn in US over next 4 years
- 11 hours ago
Toshakhana II: Notice to FIA on PTI founder, wife’s acquittal pleas
- 12 hours ago
Gohar says PTI founder calls off talks with govt over delay in constituting judicial commission
- 8 hours ago