Officials from the United States and China on Monday (23 October) held a two-hour long virtual meeting to discuss domestic and global macroeconomic developments, the US Treasury Department said, calling the meeting “productive and substantive”.
The take
Ties between the world’s two largest economies have been strained in recent years due to a number of issues including Taiwan, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, allegations of spying, human rights issues and trade tariffs.
Senior officials from both sides have been meeting each other in recent months to lay the ground for an expected meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November.
Key quotes
“Today, the United States and the People’s Republic of China held the first meeting of the Economic Working Group (EWG), which serves as an ongoing channel to discuss and facilitate progress on bilateral economic policy matters,” the Treasury Department said.
China’s finance ministry said the two sides had “in-depth, frank and constructive” talks, and also discussed bilateral cooperation in “addressing global challenges”.
Both sides will continue to maintain communication, the ministry said.
US and Chinese officials also raised “areas of concern,” statements from the two sides said, without elaborating. The meeting was led by senior officials from the US Treasury Department and China’s finance ministry.
The EWG was launched last month following US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s trip to Beijing in July. It was launched in parallel with a financial working group, which will hold its first meeting on Wednesday.
Context
The economic meeting follows other high-level engagements between the two countries in recent months that have seen visits from US officials to China like Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June, Yellen in July and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August.
More recently, Blinken met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in New York and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta.
Upcoming visit
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will travel to the United States later this week, senior Biden administration officials said on Monday, in a long-anticipated visit that comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, which US officials hope Beijing can help contain.
Wang will visit Washington from 26 to28 October and meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan, officials said, declining to say if he will meet with Biden as well.
The trip will be the highest-level in-person engagement ahead of an expected meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November.
“We continue to believe that direct face-to-face diplomacy is the best way to raise challenging issues, address misperception and miscommunication, and explore working with the Chinese where our interests intersect,” said one official, who briefed reporters on the trip on condition of anonymity.
The visit also comes as Hamas’ 7 October attacks and Israel’s response dominate global headlines, even as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.
Washington is sending military aid to Israel and Ukraine, while Beijing has grown closer to Russia since the Ukraine war began and has called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine would both be discussed, a second official said, adding that the US would “push the Chinese to take a more constructive approach on both.”
Washington has placed importance on China’s ability to influence Iran. Blinken, during his whirlwind trip last week to the Middle East, held a phone call with Wang asking him to use Beijing’s clout in the region to ensure the conflict does not widen.
China has consistently called for restraint and a ceasefire in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 Israelis but has also sharpened its criticism of Israel.
Territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas would also be on the agenda during Wang’s visit, the US officials said, adding that Washington was deeply concerned by China’s “destabilizing and dangerous actions” in the South China Sea.
(Edited by Georgi Gotev)
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