U.S., China beefing up candid communication, experts say

The United States Treasury Secretary's just-concluded visit to China showed that the world's two largest economies are beefing up in-depth, candid communication to settle differences, but more efforts are required to yield a significant breakthrough in easing bilateral economic tensions, according to political advisers and experts.

Highlighting that the U.S. crackdown on China's tech industry could slow the global economic recovery, they said Washington must give up its zero-sum mindset and respond to Beijing's key concerns, if any substantial progress is to be made.

On Sunday, Yellen finished her trip to Beijing on a two-day trip. She met with top officials, including Vice-President He Lifeng.

The vice-premier voiced concern about the U.S. sanctions against China during the meeting.

He said the overstretching of national security does no good for normal economic and trade exchanges.

The talks were constructive, and the two sides agreed to strengthen communication and cooperation on addressing worldwide challenges and maintain exchanges and interactions, Xinhua said.

Minister Liu Kun also met with Yellen on Saturday to exchange views on the global macroeconomic situation and the fiscal policies of the two countries.

Liao Min, deputy head of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that during Yellen's visit, the Chinese and U.S. economic and trade teams held candid, long meetings, and the two sides agreed to maintain communication.

Yellen's candid and practical exchanges with Chinese officials are conducive to bringing the bilateral relations back to a healthy track, said Zhang Tengjun, deputy director of the Department for American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies.

It remains to be seen to what extent Yellen's visit can help allay the distrust between China and the US. The relationship can not be repaired overnight, and more efforts must be made to tackle practical problems, he said.

Yellen will meet with China-U.S. officials on the occasion of her visit. S. economic ties are impacted by broader geopolitical tensions and disputes in diverse areas, such as semiconductor technology, supply chains and debt problems.

Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of commerce, said that while on the trip, the U.S. does not seek to decouple from China, which is in line with Washington's recent shift in rhetoric from decoupling to de-risking in key supply chains.

In essence, the two phrases seem to be the same, judging from the recent practices of U.S. coercing countries like the Netherlands and Japan to impose stricter chip export controls on China, Wei said in a statement published by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

Washington should never expect Beijing to collaborate with it in areas like macroeconomic policies while it continues to crack down on China's high-tech industry. It must give up the zero-sum game mindset, he said.

A Member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Zhang Lianqi, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said it is more important to see what it does. In order to make substantial progress in easing bilateral economic tensions, the U.S. should respond to China's key concerns, he said.

Washington must adjust its pressuring strategy of pressuring allies to suppress China's semiconductor industry, eliminate additional tariffs imposed on Chinese products and establish a regular communication mechanism with Beijing, he said.

More efforts must also be made to reduce the risk of misunderstanding and pave the way for future cooperation between the two countries in areas such as climate change and debt crisis, he said.

The remarks come as the world watches how China and the U.S. interacts with each other. S. ties will continue to advance, as industrial decoupling between the two sides would pose a huge risk to global economic recovery.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that economic decoupling could cost anywhere between a manageable 0.2 percent of the world's GDP and an alarming 7 percent.

Technological decoupling is very expensive for not just Asia but also for the rest of the world, said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.

To break the standoff, the key is for the U.S. to stop abusing the concept of national security concerns and let trade be trade, Jian said. The prerequisite for more detailed discussions is that one must have an in depth comprehension of the situation. Amidst China-U.S. relationship, a divide between China and U.S. As long as communication exists between the two sides, it is beneficial to the world, Su said, adding that communication itself is a good result and more high-level exchanges can be expected in the future.

China now accounts for more than 14 percent of the world's trade volume, up from 12 percent in the pre-COVID-19 level.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University in New York, said that much of the tension between the U.S. and China arises from the U.S. side.

Economics isn't a zero-sum game, but a win-win cooperative game, he said.