Yellen making a long-awaited trip to China

WASHINGTON

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit Beijing this week, the United States said on July 2, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world's top two economies deteriorated earlier this year.

Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries "to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges," said the Treasury Department in a statement.

Yellen's planned July 6-9 trip comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China's top leader President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing in June.

Blinken was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the Chinese capital in nearly five years, and Xi said on the rare trip that he saw headway in the strained relationship between Washington and Beijing.

In Beijing, Yellen will discuss how the United States views its economic relationship with China, a senior Treasury official said on July 2.

She will meet with senior Chinese officials and leading U.S. firms, the American spokesperson said without providing specifics.

While the U.S. seeks to secure its national security interests and protect human rights, actions to this effect are "not intended to gain economic advantage over China," the official added.

Washington also looks towards "healthy" ties with Beijing and does not seek to decouple the economies, while pursuing cooperation on urgent challenges like climate change and debt distress, the American official said.

The United States does not expect "significant breakthrough" from this initial trip, but it does aim to build longer-term channels of communication with China, the Treasury official added.