US, China agree to cooperate on climate change, global debt relief

Decision follows two days of talks between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice-Premier He Lifeng ahead of much-awaited Biden-Xi summit

US does not intend to decouple its economy from China’s, Yellen says, while highlighting need to maintain ‘resilient lines of communication’

Reading Time:4 minutes

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks in San Francisco on Friday after meetings with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 6:53am, 11 Nov 2023Updated: 6:32pm, 11 Nov 2023

China and the US have agreed to improve cooperation on climate change and global debt relief, the result of two days of talks in San Francisco between US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng.

Their meetings came ahead of a much-anticipated summit on Wednesday between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden. To be held on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in San Francisco, the two leaders’ first face-to-face talks since last November would aim to put a floor under deteriorating relations between the rival powers.

“We agreed that in-depth and frank discussions matter, particularly when we disagree,” Yellen said after her talks with Li ended on Friday.

“And I emphasised that the current uncertain global landscape makes it particularly crucial that we maintain resilient lines of communication going forward.”

At a separate press conference with Chinese state media in San Francisco the same day, China’s finance vice-minister Liao Min said the US Treasury Department and China’s Ministry of Finance would set up a working group headed by a vice-ministerial official to launch regular direct bilateral communication on economic and financial issues.

The talks between He and Yellen over Thursday and Friday lasted 10 hours in all, he said.

Both sides agreed not to aim for economic decoupling and to enhance cooperation on global debt relief and climate change, Liao said. They also pledged to continue to work on strengthening the international financial architecture and promote increases in International Monetary Fund quotas.