In China, Yellen urges 'direct' talks, climate collaboration

BEIJING: Washington and Beijing should communicate "directly" on concerns about specific economic practices, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday, urging greater cooperation between the world's two biggest economies despite fraught ties.

Yellen is on a four-day trip to Beijing as the United States seeks to cool tensions and stress areas of collaboration between the two countries.

In a meeting Saturday with vice premier He Lifeng, she pointed to record bilateral trade last year as proof of just how intertwined they are. "There is ample room for our firms to engage in trade and investment," she told He at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse. "Where we have concerns about specific economic practices, we should and will communicate them directly."

Her bilateral meeting with He lasted around five hours and was followed by a dinner. A Treasury statement said she raised issues of concern in the "candid" talks, while discussing the US approach of healthy economic competition.

China's official Xinhua news agency added that China "expressed concern" on US sanctions and restrictions but both sides agreed to boost cooperation on global challenges.

Yellen told a roundtable of experts in China on Saturday that collaboration between the two powers on climate financing was "critical". "As the world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases and the largest investors in renewable energy, we have both a joint responsibility - and ability - to lead the way," she said. "The United States and China must work together to address this existential threat," she added.