White House sends Yellen to China as expert warns Beijing will push ‘concession based diplomacy’

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will head to China Thursday for a three-day trip, as the Biden administration works to thaw icy relations with Beijing amid rocky economic ties, escalated military tensions and precarious diplomatic relations. 

Yellen has repeatedly expressed her desire to visit Beijing and has warned that an economic split from China would prove “disastrous” for the global economy.

The Treasury secretary is expected to address key items during her trip like China’s new export controls announced on gallium and germanium products that could affect semiconductor production, as well as a recent counter-espionage law that is expected to negatively impact U.S. companies. 

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“While in Beijing, Secretary Yellen will discuss with [Chinese] officials the importance for our countries – as the world’s two largest economies – to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges,” the U.S. Treasury said in a statement announcing her trip this week.

The move follows a directive issued by President Biden after a November meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, when the two nation leaders agreed to increase lines of communication, particularly on global economic issues. 

However, Yellen’s trip, which comes just over two weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to China, is not expected to see any substantial breakthroughs even as the administration attempts to repair relations. 

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Diplomatic ties remain strained despite Blinken’s trip late last month – which was directly succeeded by Biden calling Xi a “dictator” and sparked a series of furious rebukes – and military communications remain in an apparent freeze as Beijing continues to ramp up its aggression in the South China Sea. 

“I anticipate that Secretary Yellen will receive a lecture on U.S. ‘misdeeds’ allegedly designed to contain China,” Heino Klinck, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and military attaché to China, told Fox News Digital. “The Chinese engage in concessions-based diplomacy. They will demand that the U.S. remove tariffs and sanctions before even discussing any of the areas of concern that the Biden Administration has prioritized including a restoration of military-to-military communications.”

“What remains to be seen is if the Biden Administration is willing to offer such concessions in order to ostensibly stabilize the relationship between Washington and Beijing during a period of increasing bellicose Chinese rhetoric and military tension in the Taiwan Strait,” he added.  

Yellen is expected to also address areas of concern outside direct U.S.-Chinese economic interests like Beijing’s support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine along with its aggressive presence in the South China Sea. 

Reuters contributed to this report.