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Is Yellen's China Trip Part of a Good Cop-Bad Cop Game?

© AP Photo / Alex Brandon Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens, Sept. 15, 2022, in Lanham, Md. Yellen is visiting Senegal with a message about the future of U.S.-Africa relations.
 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens, Sept. 15, 2022, in Lanham, Md.  Yellen is visiting Senegal with a message about the future of U.S.-Africa relations. - Sputnik International, 1920, 27.06.2023
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is fixing to visit Beijing in early July while President Joe Biden plans an order to restrict outbound investments in China's defense industry and dubs Chairman Xi Jinping a "dictator."
Janet Yellen is expected to hold the first US-China high-level economic talks next month, the US mainstream press reported citing people familiar with the treasury secretary's scheduling.
She is due to meet her counterpart, He Lifeng, named by the US media a "longtime confidant of Xi." He became China's vice premier responsible for economic policy in March.
Yellen would be the second top-ranking official to visit Beijing as relations between the two major powers have seen deterioration for quite a while. Earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a trip to the People's Republic after delays caused by the so-called "spy balloon" scandal spun out by Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks about priorities for administration of US President Joe Biden in the Ben Franklin room at the State Department in Washington, DC on March 3, 2021.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 25.06.2023
Americas
'He Speaks For Us All': Blinken Defends Biden's 'Dictator' Remark on Xi
Even though Blinken's China tour was called somewhat "productive" by both sides, US-China remain bumpy. Following the secretary of state's high-level meeting with the People's Republic, President Joe Biden publicly called his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a "dictator", much to Beijing's displeasure.
"It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in response to the US president's remark.
Instead of downplaying the commander-in-chief non-diplomatic wording as a "gaffe", the US administration defended the president's stance with Secretary of State Blinken claiming that Biden "speaks for us all."
A Chinese woman adjusts the Chinese national flag near U.S. national flags before a Strategic Dialogue expanded meeting that's part of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, July 10, 2014 - Sputnik International, 1920, 26.06.2023
World
Yellen Reportedly Plans Visit to China in July Amid US Investment Curbs on Beijing
For her part, Yellen emphasized the importance of maintaining a relationship with China despite having disagreements on certain issues:
"With respect to the comments, I think President Biden and I both believe it’s critical to maintain communication… to clear up misperceptions, miscalculations. We need to work together where possible," she stated at a news conference in Paris last week.
While someone would call it a "good cop-bad cop" game, it is clear that Yellen's forthcoming economic talks won't be easy in the light of a new investment executive order considered by the Biden administration. The order in question would restrict outbound investments in China’s defense industry. It is expected that it could be signed in late July.
As per the US press, the initiative is aimed at preventing Beijing from gaining a military advantage in certain targeted technologies. It seems, however, to be another step in Washington's broader effort to contain China's technological rise by cracking down on its telecom giants and cutting it off from semiconductor technologies, super-computing and artificial intelligence. Hence, Biden's CHIPS Act and the Commerce Department announcement of new export controls on semiconductor technologies in October 2022.
Photograph of a chip constructed by D-Wave Systems Inc. designed to operate as a 128-qubit superconducting adiabatic quantum optimization processor, mounted in a sample holder - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.06.2023
Economy
Intel Inks Hefty German Plant Deal as US Seeks to ‘Bring Back Chip Industry Lost to Asia’
The US does not act alone, persuading its allies and partners across the world to adopt similar approaches and policies – sometimes, in clear contradiction with their own national interests.

During the latest G7 meeting, the group of developed states proclaimed that they worked out a unified approach to China calling it "de-risking" and "diversifying" their relations with the People's Republic. In response, Beijing accused the Group of Seven of holding an anti-China meeting and summoned Japan's ambassador.

Washington's efforts to curb China's rise go well beyond the economic sphere: the US is beefing up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region together with its NATO allies and regional partners. The US has also formed regional alliances and is currently closing ranks with the UK and Australia within the framework of AUKUS, a tripartite military alliance. Concurrently, US policymakers are continuing to poke Beijing over Taiwan and are openly voicing concerns that the island's next elections in January 2024 could be won by a "pro-China" Kuomintang party.
Semi-conductor chips are assembled and organized on a workbench before a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of a Nanotronics manufacturing center at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. - Sputnik International, 1920, 22.05.2023
Analysis
Beijing Banning Micron Means China Has Mastered Chip-Making
Despite trying to play hardball diplomacy with China, the US economy still remains largely intertwined with that of the People's Republic. In 2022, the US annual goods-trade deficit with China increased 8% year-on-year to $382.9 billion. The US overall trade deficit in goods and services with world players mounted 12.2% to almost $1 trillion last year.
For its part, China adopted a "wait-and-see" approach: while chastising the US for what seems to be unfair economic maneuvers and sheer provocations in Beijing's backyard, the Chinese leadership remains calm and open for cooperation. At the same time, China is propelling the internationalization of the yuan and little-by-little shifting from the dollars to local currencies. Time will tell whether Yellen's charm offensive will prove successful and whether Washington has more trump cards up its sleeve than Beijing.
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