Yellen’s visit to China is being discussed

The White House announced Monday that Washington and Beijing are coordinating schedules for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to visit China at the invitation of China. The announcement that the U.S. is pursuing the resumption of high-level talks with China came in the wake of China’s three days of military drills around Taiwan, which took place after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen visited the U.S.

“President Joe Biden wants to keep the lines of communication open with China [even amid tension],” said John Kirby, National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, at a briefing on Tuesday.

Back in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Secretary Yellen met with her Chinese counterpart, Vice-Premier Liu He, and agreed to visit China later this year. Secretary Raimondo also said that she is considering a trip to China to discuss commercial opportunities for U.S. businesses in China.

However, the visits by Secretary Yellen and Secretary Raimondo may be postponed as Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will meet with U.S. House Speaker Keven McCarthy. Politico cited an anonymous U.S. government official and reported that China had not offered details on plans or timings of the visits by the Treasury and Commerce secretaries.

The White House also announced that it is planning Secretary Tony Blinken’s visit to China as well as a phone call between President Biden and President Xi Jinping, which were postponed due to the Chinese spy balloon. Mr. Kirby said President Biden hopes to speak to President Xi and the U.S. wants the bilateral relations to improve, adding that the two leaders will have a dialogue “when it’s the appropriate time.”

The Biden administration seeks to resume talks with China seemingly to prevent a continuing escalation of military tension around the Taiwanese strait and a buildup of tension between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese retaliation against the U.S. export ban on China.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV on the day, Jay Shambaugh, the Treasury Department's under secretary for international affairs, said that the U.S. is neither seeking to decouple from China nor is trying to limit China’s growth. “We are not trying to massively decouple our economy from China,” said Mr. Shambaugh.


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