Chinese Premier Li Qiang (R) shakes hands with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 7, 2023.
Mark Schiefelbein | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defended American actions to protect its national security in prepared remarks for a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
“The United States will, in certain circumstances, need to pursue targeted actions to protect its national security,” Yellen said Friday in prepared remarks.
“And we may disagree in these instances,” she said.
Among several measures, the U.S. in October announced sweeping export controls that restrict the ability of Chinese businesses to develop advanced semiconductors.
This week, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that starting Aug. 1, businesses in China wanting to export two metals used in the manufacturing of chips would need to apply for licenses. The ministry said Thursday the measures were not targeted at a specific country, and that it had notified the U.S. and Europe ahead of the public announcement.
“We should not allow any disagreement to lead to misunderstandings that unnecessarily worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship,” Yellen said in her prepared remarks.
She said there are “important global challenges” where the U.S. and China need to “cooperate and show leadership.”
Yellen was set to meet with China’s premier on Friday, the second day of her four-day trip to China.
Earlier in the day, she met with former Vice Premier Liu He and former People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang. A Treasury official said the meeting lasted for one hour and 15 minutes, longer than scheduled.
“They discussed the global economic outlook as well as the respective economic outlooks for the United States and China,” the official said.
Her trip follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s high-stakes Beijing visit last month, and comes as China’s economic growth has slowed.
Li on Thursday met with economic experts to discuss growth trends and suggestions for economic work, state media said. Li said the complex global political and economic situation has greatly affected China’s development, according to the report.