Global Courant
China and the United States will hold official high-level meetings during US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing later this week. Neither side expects a significant improvement in relations in the short term, but there is good hope that they will gradually come to terms with each other’s differences.
Yellen will visit Beijing from July 6 to July 9, it was decided after consultations between the two countries, the Chinese Ministry of Finance. said Monday. The former Fed chairman is considered a relatively China-friendly American politician.
Yellen’s visit comes after Blinken’s on June 18-19 and ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden. Troubles with Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and US chip export bans will continue to be key issues in upcoming dialogues with Xi-Biden.
Chinese commentators said that Washington has unilaterally started a Cold War against China and that it is therefore unlikely that the US will stop imposing new restrictions on China’s high-tech sector anytime soon.
Zhang Weiwei, professor of international relations at Fudan University, said on a June 26 TV show that the Sino-American conflict was caused by the US, which refused to accept that China is on the rise. Moreover, he said, it was a big mistake for the US to think it could stop China from rising up.
However, he says the situation seems to be improving.
Citing the Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross stages of grief in psychology, Zhang said that after failing to beat China in the trade and technology wars, the US seems to have passed through the first two stages — denial and anger. and are on their way to the third phase. , which refers to “partial acceptance and negotiation”. The fourth and fifth stages are known as “depression” and “acceptance.”
He added that China has so far not resumed military talks with the US, wanting to warn the latter that it is not afraid of military conflict.
In Beijing, the US Treasury Department said in a rack issued on Sunday U.S. time, Yellen will discuss with PRC officials “the importance for our countries – as the world’s two largest economies – to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly on problem areas and work together to address global address challenges.”
Referring to a speech given by Yellen in April, the Treasury Department said the US will seek “to safeguard its national security interests along with those of our allies and to protect human rights through targeted actions that are not designed to promote economic gain advantage.
“We are committed to a healthy economic relationship with China that fosters mutually beneficial growth and innovation and enhances economic opportunities for U.S. workers and businesses,” it said. “We are also trying to work together on pressing global challenges such as climate change and debt.”
Any context
There is a long way to go before much can happen. When Blinken met Xi in Beijing on June 19, he was given a seat opposite that of Chinese diplomat Wang Yi while Xi sat in the middle. Chinese experts said the meeting plan was to show the world that China was teaching the US a lesson.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who sits at the head of the table at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 19, 2023. Leah Mills / Pool
On June 20, Biden shot back, saying at an event in California that when he ordered the shooting down of a Chinese balloon over US airspace in early February, Xi did not know it was there. He said it is “a great shame for dictators if they didn’t know what was happening”.
On June 21, the Chinese embassy in the US filed a formal protest with the White House over Biden’s comments.
On June 30, Biden met with China’s new ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, at the White House. The tone improved slightly.
According to a rack on the Chinese embassy website, Biden accepted Xie’s letter of credence and welcomed the ambassador, who took office on May 23, to his new post. They had a conversation about the Chinese-American relationship. The statement showed two photos, in which Biden has a two-handed handshake with Xie and is very close to Xie and his wife Wang Dan.
It will take more than the two countries to give a serious blow to the suspicion and hostility that reigns in official circles and public opinion on both sides.
“The purpose of Yellen’s visit to China may not have taken into account China’s concerns,” writes Liu Yong, a military columnist from Hubei, in an article published Monday. “Gellen said she wants to restore relations with China. But she’s basically saying the US wants China to compromise and continue to serve US interests.”
“US debt is one of the focal points of China-US economic issues,” he says. “The US has become concerned since China has repeatedly sold US government bonds in recent years. Even if China buys a little more, it won’t be nearly enough to satisfy the US.”
He adds that it is likely that Washington will use Taiwan issues to pressure Beijing during Yellen’s visit.
At the end of last year, China held $867.1 billion in US Treasury bonds, down from $1.12 trillion at the end of 2018. Japan’s holdings of US Treasury bonds grew from $1.04 trillion to $1.08 trillion over the same period, while the United Kingdom increased from $288 billion to $654.5 billion.
Nine US legislators visited Taiwan between June 27 and 29, despite strong opposition from Beijing.
Technology ban
Since US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Chinese Defense Secretary Wei Feng in Cambodia last November, the two sides have not held official talks amid rising political tensions between the US and China. On June 2, Austin shook hands with China’s new Defense Minister Li Shangfu at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, but they did not have an official meeting.
Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said in a June 28 briefing that the US must lift sanctions against China if it is to resume high-level military talks.
On the same day, Blinken said that during his trip to Beijing he told his Chinese counterparts that the US will ensure that no US technology is used by China to make hypersonic weapons or violate human rights.
On June 30, the Dutch government said from September 1, ASML must apply for licenses if it wants to export certain DUV lithography tools. ASML said the ban will affect its exports Twinscan NXT:1980Dithat can make 38 nanometer chips in one go, to China.
“In recent years, the US has continually generalized the concept of national security, abused export control measures, and sacrificed the interests of its allies to force and win over other countries to suppress and contain China’s semiconductor industry in order to maintain its global hegemony.” an unnamed spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce said Saturday.
“While Blinken promoted Yellen’s visit to China, the softening of his stance was superficial,” Guan Xiansen, a Guangdong-based writer, said in a statement. article published Sunday. “He tried to whitewash the fact that the US is suppressing and restraining China in a comprehensive manner, saying that the sanctions only target the areas that are not in line with US interests.
“Without any evidence, he made conspiracy theory assumptions that China could ‘illegally use’ certain key technologies. This baseless accusation shows that the US judges others based on their own experience,” said Guan.
While Chinese commentators are confident that China will eventually beat the US, the US will soon strengthen its sanctions against China.
US media reported last week that after Yellen’s trip to China, Washington will ban Nvidia from exporting its artificial intelligence (AI) chips, including A800 and H800, to China — and that Biden will sign an executive order at the end of July to withdraw US funds. prohibiting investment in China’s advanced technology sectors.
Read: AI chip prohibits trade talks between US and China
Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at @jeffpao3
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