Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang (right) shakes hands with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a gathering on the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, July 7, 2023.
Mark Schiefelbein | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended US actions to guard national security in prepared remarks for a gathering with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
“The USA might want to take targeted motion in certain circumstances to guard its national security,” Yellen said Friday in prepared remarks.
“And in those cases, we are able to disagree,” she said.
Amongst several measures, the US announced wide-ranging export controls in October that limit the flexibility of Chinese firms to develop advanced semiconductors.
This week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that starting August 1, firms in China that wish to export two metals used to make chips may have to use for licenses. The ministry said Thursday that the measures weren’t country-specific and that it had notified america and Europe before making a public announcement.
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“We must always not allow any disagreement to steer to misunderstandings that needlessly worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship,” Yellen said in a prepared speech.
She said there have been “necessary global challenges” where the US and China needed to “cooperate and show leadership”.
Yellen was scheduled to fulfill China’s prime minister on Friday, the second day of her four-day trip to China.
Earlier within the day, she met with former vice-premier Liu He and former president of the People’s Bank of China, Yi Gang. A treasury official said the meeting lasted an hour and quarter-hour, longer than planned.
“They discussed the worldwide economic outlook in addition to the respective economic outlooks for america and China,” the official said.
Her trip follows US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-profile visit to Beijing last month and comes as China’s economic growth slows.
Li met with economic experts on Thursday to debate growth trends and business job suggestions, state media reported. In response to the report, Li said that the complex global political and economic situation has a big impact on China’s development.