US Treasury staff and counterparts from China held the first meeting of a new working group dedicated to discussing economic topics, yet another small sign of improving ties between the two powers.
“The delegations met virtually for two hours and had a productive and substantive discussion on topics including domestic and global macroeconomic developments,” the Treasury Department said in a statement following the session, held by video conference on Monday evening in the US and Tuesday morning in Beijing.
The Chinese expressed concerns to the US on unspecified matters, according to a statement Tuesday from the Ministry of Finance in Beijing.
A second working group will meet Wednesday evening in Washington and Thursday morning in Beijing to discuss financial topics. The virtual gatherings come as the Biden administration is preparing to receive Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Washington this week.
The two sides agreed last month to establish the two groups dedicated to holding regular, staff level sit-downs following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to China where she met with Vice Premier He Lifeng and other leaders. Other cabinet secretaries have also visited Beijing this year as the two sides try to turn down the heat on their relationship.
Yellen has long sought more regular contacts between the Treasury and Beijing’s economic leadership as a way to gather more information about China’s economy and to prevent policy disagreements from flaring into more serious confrontation. Yellen met face-to-face with Pan Gongsheng, governor of China’s central bank, in Marrakech, Morocco on Oct. 13.
Preparations have been underway for some time for a potential summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November, but no meeting has been finalized.
--With assistance from Yujing Liu.
