The US will question China for its “unfair economic practices” at the APEC forum

USA will ask China explanations about their “unfair economic practices” at a high-level meeting this week in San Francisco between the US Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellenand Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

He’s visit, which will take place on the 9th and 10th, was confirmed this Monday in a statement by the Treasury Secretary and takes place “at a time of heightened diplomacy between the United States and the People’s Republic of China designed to further stabilize the bilateral economic relationship and achieve progress on key economic issues.”

In an editorial published in the Washington Post, Yellen stated that at the meeting she will tell He her “serious concerns about Beijing’s unfair economic practices,” among them the “large scale use” of tools outside the market, the barriers that China places to access its market and its “coercive actions” against American companies in China.

The meetings between the two politicians will take place a few days before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), in which Yellen will host the meeting of finance ministers.

Within the framework of this forum, which will also be held in San Francisco from November 15 to 17, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet, as confirmed by the White House last week.

The meetings with He, the Treasury Secretary points out in the statement, are the result of “the important progress that Secretary Yellen has made in deepening resilient economic communication channels” between the two countries and which included a visit by Yellen to China last July.

Yellen will attend the meeting with He defending the “pillars” of the Biden Administration’s approach, based on “healthy economic competition that benefits both parties.”

“We will take specific measures to promote our national security and that of our allies, and protect human rights, but we do not use these tools to seek economic advantage,” the statement added.

Lastly, the United States will seek to cooperate on global challenges such as climate change and will seek ways in which both countries can work together. “as the world’s two largest economies to put the global economy on a more secure footing“ra.”

The visit of He, a member of the Politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and director of the Central Commission of Economic and Financial Affairs, was also confirmed today by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and comes at a time of thaw between the two powers.

The People’s Daily, the voice of the CCP, published an editorial last week in which, in a conciliatory tone, it expressed its desire that relations between Washington and Beijing “stabilize and improve.”

On the 27th, Biden received the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, by surprise at the White House, a meeting that marked the highest-ranking meeting that the president has had with a Chinese official in the last year.

The meeting, which was not on Biden’s agenda, emulated the one that Secretary of State Antony Blinken also had by surprise with the Chinese president on his trip to Beijing last June.

Biden and Xi met for the last time in November last year during the G20 in Bali (Indonesia), where they agreed to maintain regular contacts after years of deterioration in the bilateral relationship due to the trade war between both countries, the situation in Taiwan or the military in the South China Sea.

But those efforts were blown up last February, when Washington accused Beijing of having sent an alleged Chinese spy balloon into US airspace.

The relationship did not begin to improve until Blinken’s trip to Beijing in June, which was followed by visits from other officials, such as the aforementioned Yellen.

Xi’s last trip to the United States was in April 2017, when he met with then-President Donald Trump (2017-2021) in Florida.