Yellen says China, U.S. have significant disagreements that must be communicated clearly, directly

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said 10 hours of bilateral meetings with senior Chinese officials in recent days were “direct, substantive and productive” and helped stabilize the often rocky relationship.

Yellen, who departs Beijing on Sunday after a four day visit, told a press conference that the United States and China have significant disagreements and they must be communicated “clearly and directly.”

“No one visit will solve our challenges overnight. But I expect that this trip will help build a resilient and productive channel of communication with China’s new economic team,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for the news conference.

Yellen said the objective of the visit was to establish and deepen ties to China’s new economic team, reduce the risk of misunderstanding and pave the way for cooperation in areas such as climate change and debt distress.

She reiterated that Washington was not seeking to decouple from China’s economy, adding doing so would be “disastrous for both countries and destabilizing for the world.”

But she said the United States wanted to see an “open, free and fair economy,” not one that forces countries to take sides.

She said she used the discussions to raise “serious concerns” about what she called China’s “unfair economic practices” and recent uptick in coercive actions against U.S. firms.

Yellen also discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine with her Chinese interlocutors, and said it was “essential” that Chinese firms avoid providing Russia with material support for the war, or in evading sanctions.

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