“INTERESTING” TIMING FOR TALKS
The timing of the talks was “interesting” for several reasons, including Yellen’s impending visit to Beijing, said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund.
Chinese and US military officials will also hold a working-level meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii this week to discuss operational safety, while a new president will be inaugurated in Taiwan next month.
“This is an important time, I think, to have a touch point between the leaders and they of course expressed their concerns about many issues, but I think they also emphasised their shared interest in trying to maintain stability in the US-China relationship,” she told CNA’s Asia First.
She added that with these diplomatic engagements on the horizon, one of the main messages that Biden raised – and that Yellen will discuss – is Chinese industrial overcapacity and the global economic consequences of that spreading over capacity into various markets around the world.
“We don’t know whether the Chinese will take that on board and limit what looks like it’s going to be a flood of products to markets overseas,” Glaser added.
“I don’t think (there) will be any breakthroughs, but I think that engaging with the Chinese on these issues over time, hopefully we will make some progress.”
