BEIJING, January 19  (TMTPOST)— Top economic officials of China and the United States showed their willingness to deepen communication and ease tensions between the two largest economies in the world.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Chinese vice premier Liu He held his first face-to-face talk with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Zurich on Wednesday. During the “constructive” talk, the two officials had “professional, in-depth, candid and practical exchanges” on the macroeconomic and financial situation as well as on addressing common global challenge, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Focusing on the implementation of the important consensus reached by President Biden and President Xi in Bali in November, Liu and Yellen agreed that the global economic recovery is at a critical stage and it is in the interest of both countries as well as the whole world for China and U.S. to enhance macro-policy communication and coordination and jointly address economic and financial challenges. They also agreed on importance of sustainable financial cooperation and strengthening cooperation within bilateral and multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the Group of 20 (G20) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Yellen is welcome to visit China at an appropriate time this year, said Liu, also as the chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue. Both sides agreed to maintain communication and exchanges between their economic and trade teams to stay in communication across different levels, Xinhua reported. The report noted that Liu expressed concerns over the Biden administration’s economic, trade and technological policies to China, and hoped U.S. side attach importance to impacts of these policies on both sides.  

A statement of the U.S. department of Treasury labeled Liu and Yellen’s meet as a “candid, substantive, and constructive” one.  It said Yellen “looks forward to traveling to China and to welcoming her counterparts to the United States in the near future.” While mentioning Yellen raised issues of concern in a frank exchange of views, the department didn’t disclose any details of these issues or the possible timetable about the Secretary’s visit to China.

Liu He’s meeting came a day after he represented China at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. During his speech made at the annual forum opened on Monday, Liu stressed opening-up as a catalyst of reform and development and a key driver of economic progress in China. “China’s door to the outside will only open wider,” he said. He vowed to take economic development as the primary and central task and as parts of  efforts to maintain reasonable economc growth, China will focus more on expanding domestic demand, keeping supply chains stable, supporting the private sector, reforming the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), attracting foreign investment, and preventing economic and financial risks.