US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will speak later today on current US policy towards China. A lot of things are going on between the two countries, says US correspondent Leonard Sandbergen. “Yellen now wants to clarify how the U.S. is in the game.”

Yellen has had several conversations with representatives of the Chinese government at recent meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. The former central bank chief is expected to travel to Beijing soon for talks.

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Balloons

An earlier visit by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was canceled after an incident involving Chinese spy balloons over the US. Also, tensions are rising around Taiwan. “The U.S. is also in a kind of crusade to make sure China has fewer advanced chips,” Zandbergen says.

Both Democrats and Republicans support tough China policies. “Both are not afraid of action, both sides support Taiwan. It’s like they’re at war with each other,” Zandbergen says.

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Yellen should consider this in her speech. And he thinks it’s not an easy task. The official announcement of Yellen’s speech talks about how the two countries can compete with each other in a “healthy and fair way.” But, Zandbergen says, ‘the US primarily wants to ensure internal security. They also indirectly refer to Taiwan and other countries with border disputes with China.’

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Russia

At the same time, Zandbergen thinks Yellen would also like to bring an opening to improve cooperation. It all depends on how far Chinese President Xi is willing to go to support Russia in its war against Ukraine. Some time ago, China seemed willing to help the Russians more, but they have now backed away from that. At the same time, US President Joe Biden does not want to punch the Chinese hard.’

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According to Zandbergen, the US wants to seek rapprochement with that country on the one hand. But on the other hand, Americans also want to be less dependent on other countries. “There will be enough openings, but it will be a lot of balance. The two countries understand each other well at the diplomatic level, but after incidents like spy balloons or tensions in Taiwan, things get out of hand again.