2023-07-15 13:34:48
The Chinese and American sides recognize that there are significant differences between them, and they are currently working on discussions and consultations on economic matters. Due to the difficulty of understanding regarding political matters.
Did the US Treasury Secretary’s visit to China bring views between Beijing and Washington closer?
In recent months, China has witnessed an intense movement of visits by US officials in an effort to ease tensions between the two largest economies in the world. The latest of these visits was that of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Beijing, during which she met with a number of senior Chinese officials, in addition to executives of US companies. that operate in China.
Yellen’s visit comes following the volume of trade exchange between the two countries declined by 14.5% during the first half of 2023, and following China changed its approach from defense policy to confrontation, as it imposed restrictions on exports of gallium and germanium, the two main metals for semiconductor production, before Yellen’s visit. And amended the anti-espionage law, and last May banned the products of the American company “Micron”, which manufactures electronic chips.
During her visit, the US secretary expressed Washington’s concerns regarding China’s “unfair” economic practices and recent punitive measures once morest US companies. One issue raised by the Chinese side is the possibility that the Biden administration will block US investment in high-tech in China. Beijing also offered Yellen five demands with the aim of improving relations with the United States of America, including stopping the suppression of Chinese companies, imposing tariffs and investment restrictions, as well as canceling the ban on products from the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region, as the administration of US President Joe Biden last year imposed a ban on Import products from Xinjiang.
Although Janet Yellen received a warm welcome from the Chinese in contrast to the welcome enjoyed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he visited Beijing last month, and the talks between the US official and the Chinese were calm and frank, it can be said that she created a major breach. The US Secretary of the Treasury defended the measures taken by the US administration aimed at restricting China’s access to advanced US technology as necessary to US national security. In return, Beijing is asking Washington to remove restrictions imposed on semiconductors, which Beijing sees as an American attempt to contain China and impede its technological growth.
Yellen also did not pledge to cancel or ease the tariffs imposed by the administration of former US President Donald Trump on Chinese goods, nor the restrictions imposed by Biden on the export of semiconductors to China. And Western reports stated that Washington will soon announce its plan to ban Nvidia from shipping the A800 and H800 artificial intelligence chips to China. So is restricting US money from investing in China’s high-tech sectors. In another context, Yellen encouraged cooperation to address global problems such as climate change and the debt burdens of low-income countries. Beijing believes that it is not possible to separate between economy, politics and cooperation with Washington on bilateral and global issues, in isolation from the general relations between the two countries.
Consequently, cooperation between Washington and Beijing in various fields will be affected by any friction or tension that leads to deepening mutual mistrust.
Risk removal, not separation
The US administration adopted the terms presented by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, which called for de-risking, but not decoupling, with China. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Hiroshima summit, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the United States The US is looking forward to removing risks and not separating from China, which was confirmed by the US Treasury Secretary during her visit to Beijing, and stressed that disengagement between the two largest economies in the world is impossible, and would be disastrous for both countries, and would lead to destabilization in the world.
While China believes that there is no difference between the two concepts that aim to hinder its economic growth, especially in the technology sectors, as Beijing views the measures to remove US risks in some high-tech sectors as offensive measures aimed at delaying its progress.
Tariffs and investment restrictions have led to a decline in economic exchanges between Beijing and Washington, while unrestricted goods have continued to grow. For example, according to a study by Chad Brown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, US imports of Chinese goods have declined. In light of the increase in customs tariffs by 25% from 2017 to 2022, while the imports of non-taxable goods increased by 42%, which pushed the volume of trade exchange between the two countries to a record level, reaching more than 690 billion US dollars last year.
And if former US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in order to reduce the trade deficit with China, then America recorded a trade deficit of $382 billion with China in 2022 compared to a deficit of $375 billion in 2018 at the beginning of the trade war launched by Trump. . This indicates the failure of the US measures taken to reduce the US trade deficit with China, and indicates the extent to which the economies of both countries are linked to each other.
The Chinese and American sides recognize that there are significant differences between them, and they are currently working on discussions and consultations on economic matters. Due to the difficulty of understanding regarding political matters. What Beijing wants today from Washington is for it to take serious steps to improve its relations with it, including, for example, the abolition of customs duties imposed on Chinese goods. The current time in light of the upcoming US presidential elections next year.
In conclusion, Yellen’s visit to China represents a positive step to ease tension and not to deteriorate relations between them further, as well as paved the way for a visit by US officials to China, as there is an expected visit by the US envoy for climate affairs John Kerry to China, and it is possible that US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raymondo also visited China.
And if the relations between the two countries continue at this pace without any incident that pushes them to slip, it is possible that the Chinese President will meet President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in India to be held next September, and the Chinese President may visit America during November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
In general, relations between China and the United States of America will not improve until each party concedes to the other, as both seek to preserve their core interests, which deepens and increases the dispute between them.
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