By David Lawder
BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is able to wrap up 4 days of meetings in China with a visit to the central bank as she presses her case for Chinese leaders to rein in excess industrial capability and boost domestic demand.
Yellen, who’s on her second trip to China in nine months to further ease strained ties between the world’s two largest economies, has voiced concerns about China’s fast-growing exports of electrical vehicles, batteries, solar panels and other green-energy goods.
She has argued that Chinese state support has led to production capability that far exceeds domestic demand, and the exports will threaten jobs throughout the U.S. and other countries.
Yellen spoke with regard to the difficulty at length with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and likewise met with Finance Minister Lan Foan on Sunday. She also was meeting with former vice premier Liu He on Monday.
In a readout of the finance meeting, the Treasury said Yellen and Lan discussed the macroeconomic outlook and financial developments within the USA and China.
“As well as they discussed the vital role that Treasury and the Ministry of Finance can play in maintaining a durable communication channel between the U.S. and China,” the Treasury said.
Li pushed back on Yellen’s assertion, in response to state news agency Xinhua, which quoted him as saying the U.S. should “refrain from turning economic and trade issues into political or security issues” and consider the issue of production capability from a “market-oriented and global perspective”.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao voiced more pointed objections during a roundtable meeting with Chinese EV makers Paris, saying that U.S. and European assertions of Chinese excess EV capability were groundless.
“China’s electric vehicle firms depend upon continuous technological innovation, perfect production and supply chain system and full market competition for rapid development, not counting on subsidies to attain competitive advantage,” Wang said during his trip to debate a European Union anti-subsidy probe.
Yellen will wrap up her trip to Guangzhou and Beijing with a news conference shortly Monday.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Kim Coghill and Stephen Coates)