By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials from the United States and China held a productive and substantive two-hour virtual meeting on Monday to discuss domestic and global macroeconomic developments, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
THE TAKE
Tensions between the world’s two largest economies have escalated in recent years due to various issues including Taiwan, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, allegations of spying, human rights concerns, and trade tariffs.
In recent months, senior officials from both sides have been meeting to lay the groundwork for an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November.
KEY QUOTES
“Today, the United States and the People’s Republic of China held the first meeting of the Economic Working Group (EWG), which serves as an ongoing channel to discuss and facilitate progress on bilateral economic policy matters,” stated the Treasury Department.
China’s finance ministry described the talks as “in-depth, frank and constructive”, and highlighted discussions on bilateral cooperation in addressing global challenges.
The ministry also emphasized that both sides will continue to maintain communication.
Statements from both the U.S. and Chinese sides mentioned that areas of concern were raised during the meeting without providing further details. The meeting was led by senior officials from the U.S. Treasury Department and China’s finance ministry.
The EWG was established last month following U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing in July. It was launched in parallel with a financial working group, which will hold its first meeting on Wednesday.
CONTEXT
The economic meeting is part of a series of high-level engagements between the two countries. Previously, U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June, Yellen in July, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August visited China.
More recently, Blinken met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in New York, and U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta. China’s top diplomat is scheduled to travel to the United States later this week for a meeting with Blinken.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Liz Lee and Ethan Wang in Beijing; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Miral Fahmy)
