Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Sunday she agreed that Washington will listen to Chinese complaints about security-related restrictions on US technology exports and may respond to unintended consequences if she ends a visit to Beijing to rekindle tense relations. to blow.

Yellen defended targeted measures “on trade that China’s leaders complain are designed to hurt the fledgling tech industry. She said

the president

to pray

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administration wants to avoid unnecessary repercussions”, but gave no indication of possible changes.

Relations between the two largest economies are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes over technology, security and other irritations. A major Chinese complaint concerns limited access to processor chips and other US technology for security reasons that threaten to hinder the ruling Communist Party’s development of smartphones, artificial intelligence and other industries.

We will open channels for them to express concerns about our actions, and we can explain unintended consequences of our actions and may react in some situations, Yellen said at a news conference.

Yellen spoke with China’s No. 2 leaders, Premier Li Qiang and other officials during a 10-hour meeting. She had a five-hour session with her Chinese counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng, on Saturday. Treasury officials said in advance that there were no plans to meet her

Chinese leaders President

Xi Jinping.

Yellen received a warm welcome and prominent attention from the state press, but Chinese officials made no sign of changing industrial or other policies that Washington and other governments say conflict with Beijing’s free trade commitments. He said on Saturday that Washington must take a rational and pragmatic stance to improve relations.

On Sunday, Yellen announced no agreements on major disputes or plans for future activities, but said her department and Chinese officials would communicate with each other more frequently and regularly.

Political tensions between the US and China are increasing uncertainty, dampening consumers’ and businesses’ willingness to spend and invest.

China’s economic growth rebounded to 4.5% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 3% last year after anti-virus controls on travel and business activities were lifted in December. But factory activity and consumer spending slowed in the quarter that ended in June.

Xi accused Washington in March of trying to hold back China’s industrial development.

Beijing has been slow to retail due to US technology restrictions, possibly to avoid disrupting its own industries. But three days before Yellen’s arrival, the government announced unspecified controls on the export of gallium and germanium, metals used in making semiconductors and solar panels. China is the largest producer of both.

Yellen said she tried to reassure officials that Washington does not want to disconnect or separate its economy from China as it tries to cut trade.

The Biden administration is urging semiconductor manufacturers to move production to the United States to reduce dependence on Taiwan and other Asian suppliers, seen as a security risk. Washington wants to develop alternatives to Chinese supplies of rare earth metals, metals used in smartphones, wind turbines and other products.

They have expressed some concern that risk reduction amounts to disconnection, Yellen said. She said she was trying to assure my Chinese counterparts that this is definitely not the same thing.

The risk reduction includes a focus on clearly articulated and narrowly focused national security concerns, as well as a broader concern for diversifying our supply chains, which the United States is doing in a few key sectors, she said.

During her visit, Yellen issued a call for healthy economic competition, a reference to complaints that Beijing is violating its free trade obligations by subsidizing and shielding politically favored industries from private and foreign competition.

Yellen said she had raised concerns about coercive activity against US companies to Chinese officials.

That follows raids on consulting firms and the detention of employees without explanation and what the US government says is arbitrary detention or prohibited for people leaving China, which some complain is being used to pressure them into business disputes.

Chinese leaders are trying to revive investor interest, but foreign companies are concerned about their status after Xi and other officials have called for economic self-sufficiency. The ruling party has also expanded an anti-intelligence law that has created uncertainty about what law firms or advisers can do.

Yellen called on He on Saturday for cooperation on climate change, developing country debt and other global challenges. She said their governments must not let trade and security differences derail economic and financial relations.

Beijing broke off climate talks with Washington last August in retaliation for a visit by then-

House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi

of the House of Representatives

to Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy claimed by China as part of its territory.

President

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Biden’s climate envoy, John F. Kerry, will be the next senior official to visit China next week. China and the United States are the world’s largest emitters of climate-changing carbon.

China last month signed an agreement to restructure Zambia’s debt, including billions of dollars borrowed under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative to build ports and other infrastructure in Asia and Africa. Finance officials called that a successful collaboration.