Yellen hopes to travel to China to 'reestablish contact'

[June 29, 2023]  (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she hopes to travel to China to reestablish contact with Beijing, acknowledging there were disagreements between the two countries, MSNBC on Wednesday reported her saying during an interview.  

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen discusses "U.S.-China Economic Relationship" during a forum hosted by the Johns Hopkins University at the Nitze Building in Washington, U.S., April 20, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo

The are heightened tensions and pessimism in the U.S.-China relationship over national security issues, including Taiwan, Russia's war in Ukraine, growing U.S. export bans on advanced technologies and China's state-led industrial policies.

"My hope in traveling to China is to reestablish contact. There are a new group of leaders, we need to get to know one another," Yellen was quoted as saying by MSNBC.

"And we need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don't have misunderstandings, don't misunderstand one another's intentions."

The U.S. is, and will, take actions to protect its national security interests even if it "imposes some economic costs on us," she told MSNBC.

Yellen did not detail a specific timing for any visit to China. She plans to be there in early July for the first high-level economic talks with her new Chinese counterpart, Bloomberg reported earlier this week.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Costas Pitas; Editing by Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)

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