Treasury Sec Yellen And Vice Premier He To Meet Ahead Of APEC Summit

MNI London: The US Treasury Department has confirmed that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for two-days of bilateral meetings, November 9-10, ahead of the APEC Leaders' Summit in San Francisco where President Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping

• Xi's travel to the APEC summit will be his first trip to the US in six-and-a-half years and the first contact between Biden and Xi since the G20 summit in Bali a year ago.
• The Treasury Department said in a statement that the, "meetings come at a time of more intensive diplomacy between the United States and the PRC designed to further stabilize the bilateral economic relationship and make progress on key economic issues."
• According to a Treasury official quoted by Reuters, Yellen will, "raise 'serious concerns' to He about China’s 'very, very large industrial subsidies,' market access barriers and coercive actions that hurt US firms."
• Official states: "Yellen, He to exchange views about US, Chinese economies, challenges on climate, debt relief."
• The official also reveals that the US-China economic working group, the mechanism established by Yellen in summer to improve transparency, will meet in San Francisco - following a first meeting last month.
• Official continues: "Yellen says not reconstituting Obama-era strategic and economic dialogue with China; meetings will focus on specific, high-priority topics."
• Last week, Yellen gave a speechat the Asia Society in which she outlined the Biden Administration Indo-Pacific strategy and warned of the "disastrous effects" of decoupling from China.