China and US hold first financial group meeting, will ‘deepen economic relationship’, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says

High-ranking finance officials from China and the United States engaged in discussions this week, focusing on financial stability, supervision, and regulation. These discussions were part of the first meeting of a newly formed financial group. The meeting, which took place virtually, followed the first Economic Working Group meeting on Tuesday. Topics covered included monetary and financial stability, financial supervision, sustainable finance, anti-money-laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism. The People's Bank of China released a statement on Friday, describing the discussions as professional, pragmatic, candid, and constructive.

Both sides agreed to continue communication as the world's two largest economies strive to ease tensions. The meeting was co-hosted by deputy ministerial-level officials from the People's Bank of China and the US Department of the Treasury. Attendees included representatives from China's National Administration of Financial Regulation, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the US Federal Reserve, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and other relevant financial regulatory authorities. The US Department of the Treasury also acknowledged that areas of disagreement were frankly raised during the two-hour virtual meeting.

The financial and economic working groups were initiated last month following a visit to Beijing by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen. The aim of these groups is to foster regular communication. Both working groups report directly to China's Vice-Premier He Lifeng and Yellen. Yellen expressed to Bloomberg News that the US relationship with China is now in a more positive place after a dangerous period of little contact between senior officials for about two years. She emphasized that the US would not compromise on national security issues and would continue to pursue a broad-based policy to reduce overdependence on China in areas such as clean energy. Yellen also made it clear to China that the US intended to have healthy competition and mutually beneficial trade and investments in many areas, while stressing the need to work on global problems, including climate change and debt relief.