Yellen hopes Biden-Xi G20 meeting will boost U.S.-China economic engagement By Reuters

By David Lawder

NUSA DUA INDOLAND (Reuters) – Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary, stated that she hopes President Joe Biden’s meeting Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping will result in increased engagement on macroeconomic problems between the two largest economies.

Yellen said that the meeting was intended to stabilize U.S. relations with China and give some certainty for U.S. companies about their future.

“What I am very hopeful is that as a consequence of the president’s bilateral with President Xi today we’ll engage with our Chinese counterparts in more intensive discussions going forward about the Chinese economy and global macroeconomic outcomes,” Yellen said to reporters at the G20 summit in Bali.

Yellen will also meet Yi Gang, Governor of People’s Bank of China. The two will discuss economic issues such China’s plans to relax COVID-19 restrictions that have strained its output and supply chains as well as the financial problems in China’s property sector.

She claimed that Biden was open and honest with China regarding concerns about national security in relation to restrictions on sensitive U.S. technologies.

“I have discussed with you repeatedly our concern that we are too dependent on China for minerals, such as those that go into solar panels and batteries for electric vehicles. She stated that we want a safer and more resilient supply chain.

Yellen stated that the United States wasn’t trying to force U.S. companies out of China, nor limit “a wide range commercial activities” between the two nations.