Ceasefire in Washington and Beijing
Perennial Troubles
According to Iran Gate, Janet Yellen, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, arrived in Beijing on Thursday, June 6 for a four-day official visit. During this trip, she is expected to meet with senior Chinese officials and American companies active in the country. It is not anticipated that she will meet with President Xi Jinping. This visit follows the trip of Antony Blinken, the United States Secretary of State, a few weeks ago, and adds to the list of efforts to reduce tensions between the two global giants.
In fact, this mission by Yellen had its ups and downs, and from the first statements that have leaked out, there is no sign of tension reduction or improvement in relations. Yellen, in her speech at the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, expressed concern about the restrictions announced by the Chinese government earlier this week.
Essentially, this mission by Yellen had its highs and lows, and from the first statements that have leaked out, there is no indication of tension reduction or improvement in relations. Yellen, in her speech at the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, expressed concern about the restrictions announced by the Chinese government earlier this week.
In fact, Beijing has announced that it will restrict the export of products and materials containing gallium and germanium, which are rare and vital metals for 5G network stations and solar panels, starting from August 1st, in order to protect national security and interests.
He expressed concern about China’s punitive measures against American companies and spoke about unfair economic actions, which are clearly retaliatory measures against the restrictions imposed by the United States on the sale of chips and advanced production equipment, and will be used as a leverage in future negotiations between the two countries. At the end of May, Beijing practically removed Micron’s microchips from its market. Furthermore, the new anti-spying law, which came into effect last Sunday, will increase strict regulations aimed at national security and impose significant limitations on American companies.
On the other hand, Washington will not just sit back and watch. The Biden administration, although seemingly reviewing retaliatory measures, including restrictions on the sale of chips and access to cloud services for Chinese companies, has apparently maintained the tariffs imposed by Trump. These restrictions, as Janet Yellen says, may be limited in terms of national security objectives, but they contribute to an economically and politically tense atmosphere.
Healthy competition
Therefore, it is not coincidental that Yellen emphasizes the importance of flexible and diverse supply chains. However, she stated that the goal of the United States is not to decouple from the Chinese economy, and both countries will benefit from healthy economic competition. This message reflects the idea of creating a relatively strong foundation for bilateral relations and aims to prevent further collapse of their relationship. This idea was discussed by the two presidents in their meeting last November.
Beijing’s pragmatism
During her trip, Janet Yellen will meet with senior Chinese officials and American companies active in the country. This move, despite the restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on rare metals, is a positive sign.
His mission took place a few days after Joe Biden, despite all his efforts to improve relations and reduce tensions between the two countries, referred to the President of China as a dictator. This statement reignited tensions and posed the risk of freezing the relations between the two superpowers once again. However, Beijing understood that the US President is in an election campaign and needs to confront his Republican rivals, so they took pragmatism into account. Nevertheless, they still intend to respond to the technological challenge.
Yellen was the Chair of the Federal Reserve.
Yellen’s mission is followed by the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo. Resumption of talks should be achieved through a bilateral agreement between Biden and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India in September or the APEC summit in San Francisco in November. The Treasury Secretary, who is familiar with China since her time as Chair of the Federal Reserve, is perceived as having a friendlier approach compared to other members of the Biden administration.
She has supported the reduction of US tariffs in the past, even if she had to make tough decisions afterwards. However, her tone has always been gentle, and she believes that the relationship between Washington and Beijing is important for the whole world.
Currently, both the United States and China are stuck in a vicious cycle of mutual disputes, and it seems that neither is willing to take the first step towards de-escalation. This futile cycle shows no signs of stopping at the moment.
Persian
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