US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to China this week in an attempt to defuse tension between the two powers, the Treasury Department announced in a statement.
According to the Treasury Department, Yellen’s trip to Beijing will take place between July 6 and 9 and includes meetings with high-ranking Chinese government officials.
Specifically, Yellen intends to speak with the Chinese government about the importance of Washington and Beijing “responsibly” managing their relationship and being able to communicate directly on issues of concern to them.
Yellen’s visit, the first she has made to China as Treasury Secretary, is part of the efforts of the Joe Biden government to improve communication with the Chinese Executive and prevent competition between the two countries from leading to an open conflict.
Yellen’s trip will follow a trip to China in June by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met among others with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China and the United States lived a time of great tensions during the Government of Donald Trump (2017-2021), when both nations got involved in a trade war with the mutual imposition of tariffs.
However, there was a rapprochement when Biden and Xi met in November 2022 on the sidelines of the G20 in Bali.
But relations soured again after the Biden government shot down an alleged Chinese “spy” balloon that flew over the United States in late January and fell over Atlantic waters on February 4.
That incident caused Blinken to cancel a then-planned trip to China; but, in recent weeks, the Biden government has expressed its desire that relations improve soon.
Biden himself said on June 22 that he hopes to meet Xi in the “near future”, although no date has been released for now.
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