Yellen to Visit China in Bid to Steady Economic Ties
The Biden administration has been taking steps to reduce America’s reliance on Chinese imports and has sought to limit China’s access to semiconductors, biotechnology and sensitive technology that powers things like robotics, artificial intelligence capabilities and high-end computing.
At the same time, China has frustrated the United States with its reluctance to renegotiate the terms of loans it is owed by poor countries facing default and has maintained close economic ties with Russia despite that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
A senior Treasury Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the priorities for the trip, said on Sunday that Ms. Yellen would meet with top Chinese officials and American companies doing business in China. The official said that Ms. Yellen would talk to her Chinese counterparts about global challenges and mutual areas of concern.
The Treasury secretary is expected to raise objections to China’s recent ban aimed at Micron Technology, the U.S.-based manufacturer of memory chips used in phones, computers and other electronics. The Chinese government in May barred companies that handle critical information from buying microchips made by Micron, after the Biden administration recently took steps to bar Chinese chip makers from gaining access to crucial tools needed to make advanced chips. The company’s chips, which are used for memory storage in all kinds of electronics, like phones and computers, were deemed to pose “relatively serious cybersecurity problems” by China’s internet watchdog after a review.
Ms. Yellen is also expected to express concerns about human rights violations related to China’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been accused of mass detention of Muslims. American officials are also hoping to gain a better understanding of the scope of China’s new counterespionage law, which could present new challenges for foreign companies.
Source: The New York Times
