Yellen: Decoupling from China would be “a Big Mistake” for US

BEIJING, June 13 (TiPost)— The U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated her warning about attempts to cut ties with China.

Source: Visual China

Tellen told lawmakers that it is in the United States’ best interest to maintain ties with China despite unresolved issues including trade policies.“While we surely have concerns that need to be addressed, decoupling would be a big mistake,” Yellen said in her testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.

Responding to a question from a Republican Representative Jim Hines, Yellen said America and China benefit from trade and investment “that is as open as possible”. “It would be disastrous for us to attempt to decouple from China. Derisk? Yes. Decouple? Absolutely not,” she said.

Yellen echoed her remarks on the U.S.- China economic relationship two months ago. “A full separation of our economies would be disastrous for both countries. It would be destabilizing for the rest of the world,” Yellen noted, when delivering a speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in April. She said a growing China that plays by the rules can be beneficial for the United States, citing rising demand for U.S. products and services and more dynamic U.S. industries in case of China’s development. The U.S. seeks a constructive and fair economic relationship with China, and both countries need to be able to frankly discuss difficult issues, and should work together for the benefit of both of them and the world, she added.

The U.S. business leader and the Wall Street tycoon also tried to brush off fears of decoupling.

The United States and China share intertwined and inseparable interests, and Tesla opposes decoupling, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in late May during his first travel in China in three years. The executive said Tesla is willing to continue to expand its business in China, and share the country’s development opportunities.

Qin said a healthy, stable and constructive China-U.S. relationship is in the interests of both two economies and the entire world. Compared to driving a Tesla car, Qin said such good relationship can only be materialized if both countries keep steering in the right direction of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping, stepping on the brakes to avoid the dangerous driving is avoided, and stepping on the pedal to promote mutually beneficial cooperation. China will continue to advance opening-up at a high level and create a better market-oriented, law-based, and international business environment for Tesla and other foreign companies, said Qin.

“Let’s not try to decouple. Let’s not try to hurt China, the Chinese people,” said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest bank in the United States by assets, at the bank’s annual Global China Summit in Shanghai in late May. As the top executive at JPMorgan since 2005, Dimon advocated for derisking instead of decoupling from China. He said he liked to talk about issue of the China-U.S. relationship with the word derisking, just like U.S. President Biden and Treasury Secretary Yellen did. He asserts disputes between the two leading economies over security and free and fair trade all “resolvable”. Dimon showed showed intention to increase his bank’s presence in China. “When we do business in a country” like China, he said, “we’re there hopefully through good times and bad times.”

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