Yellen's visit seeks to stabilize bilateral ties

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's first trip to China will help to stabilize relations and to ease bilateral trade tensions, experts from both countries have said, although it is not likely to yield significant breakthroughs.

"If US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit last month to China was a diplomatic ice-breaking journey for bilateral relations, Yellen's visit holds even greater practical significance," said Zhao Yongsheng, a professor at the Institute of Regional and International Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

Yellen is scheduled to visit China from Thursday through Sunday. Her visit comes close on the heels of Blinken's trip last month.

"Yellen herself is a scholar-politician in the field of economics, and her focus during the long-awaited visit revolves around the economic and trade relationship between China and the United States," Zhao said.

"Economic and trade issues are at the core of China-US ties. Everybody knows that the trajectory of US-China relations is largely determined by their economic and trade interactions. So the visit is quite crucial for the bilateral ties as tensions between China and the US endure."

Although some don't expect a landmark breakthrough this time, Yellen's visit is widely seen as a gesture that could potentially lay the foundation for a substantive easing of bilateral economic tensions.

"I don't expect a landmark breakthrough. But the meeting could lead to stable — at least not worsening — relations during the remainder of Biden's term," said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank in Washington.

Yellen is expected to meet China's new economic team, including Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng, according to US media reports.

Hufbauer said the first priority of Yellen's visit is to stabilize the economic relationship.

"Provided the official meetings are friendly, and stress that economic relations can be separated from national security concerns, then the outcome will be 'healthy'," the trade expert told China Daily.

Days ahead of Yellen's scheduled visit to Beijing, Yellen on Monday met with Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the US, as the latter called for efforts to bring Sino-US relations back onto the right track.

Healthy and stable Sino-US ties are beneficial to both two countries and are in line with the broad-based expectations of the international community, Xie said during the meeting.

Xie urged Washington to work with Beijing to uphold the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, so as to push forward the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

He also expressed hope that the US and China will eliminate interference while strengthening dialogue, calling on the US to put more effort into getting China-US relations back on track.

Contact the writers at huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com.