Yellen and Liu Meet, Agree to Enhance Communication Amid China–US Tensions

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and their respective delegations wait ahead of their meeting in Zurich, on Jan. 18, 2023. Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images

Officials from the United States and communist China met in Switzerland on Jan. 18, where they pledged to manage their differences and prevent ongoing competition between the two nations from spiraling into conflict.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich for the highest-ranking meeting between the United States and China since President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November 2022.

Yellen and Liu agreed that the United States and China should seek further cooperation on issues related to finance and climate change, according to a readout of the meeting from the Department of the Treasury.

The readout also states that the leaders agreed to work to provide “support for emerging markets and developing countries in their clean energy transitions.”

The Treasury Department characterized the meeting as a “candid, substantive, and constructive” dialogue but noted that there was “a frank exchange of views” on certain issues.

“Amid a complicated global economic outlook, there is a pressing need for the two largest economies in the world to closely communicate on global macroeconomic and financial conditions and exchange views on how we are responding to various challenges,” Yellen said in a prepared statement.

“While we have areas of disagreement, and we will convey them directly, we should not allow misunderstandings, particularly those stemming from a lack of communication, to unnecessarily worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship.”

The meeting comes as the United States grapples with China’s communist regime over the two powers’ highly entangled economies and tensions concerning the regime’s continued espionage, military buildup, and threats toward Taiwan.

Both nations’ economies are also currently suffering from a plethora of ills.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) decision to suddenly end its so-called zero-COVID policy has caused a wave of death throughout China, killing nearly 600,000 people since early December 2022, according to Chinese officials. Experts who claim that the regime is hiding the real death toll say that the actual figure may actually be in the millions.

The death wave and the CCP’s years of lockdowns have shuttered untold numbers of businesses.

The United States is just beginning to escape the highest inflation of 40 years and could hit its statutory debt ceiling as early as this week. The issue is of deep interest to the CCP, as China is the second-largest holder of U.S. debt in the world after Japan.

Yellen and Liu agreed that they would be willing to work with one another on issues of mutual importance in the future.

To that end, the Treasury’s readout states that Yellen intends to travel to China in the near future to help thaw tensions between the two powers.

The specific content of the meeting, as it concerned concrete actions for economic cooperation between China and the United States, wasn’t clarified. Yellen has drawn criticism in recent years for flip-flopping her stance on whether the U.S. economy was strong or in a recession, as well as her assertion that the nation’s record inflation was caused by Americans “splurging on goods.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.