Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing this week to meet with senior Chinese officials.
The Treasury said Yellen is expected to discuss a number of macroeconomic and financial issues, as well as how the U.S. and China can “responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges.”
A senior administration official told reporters that the trip is intended to “to deepen and increase the frequency of communication between our countries moving forward and to stabilize the relationship, avoid miscommunication, and expand collaboration where we can.”
The official noted, however, that the Biden administration does not expect significant breakthroughs during Yellen’s trip. Treasury said it would provide further details on her trip at a later date.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV confirmed Yellen will be visiting from July 6-9.
Yellen’s trip comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
In an April speech, Yellen outlined three economic priorities for the U.S.-China relationship: securing national security interests, fostering mutually beneficial growth and cooperating on global challenges like climate change and debt distress. The official said Yellen’s visit will underscore these objectives.
“We do not seek to decouple our economies, a full cessation of trade and investment would be destabilizing for both of our countries and the global economy,” the official said.
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