U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently mentioned the desire to work with China to avoid a bipolar world and encourage China to change its ways to align more with the U.S. and Europe.
Yellen made her comments during a Q&A session with the Atlantic Council, during which she touched on a variety of topics from Russia to supply chains to China.
Yellen, in response to a question about whether or not the United States should view itself as part of a bipolar system with China in the opposing camp, responded that she did not want a "bipolar world", stating that the Untied States needs "to work very hard and to work with China to try to avert such an outcome." She went on to claim that China's development into a global player has been beneficial for the United States and its allies.
"I think to me the big picture is that China has benefited enormously from being part of a global system, a rules-based multilateral system," Yellen told the Atlantic Council. "And this has really promoted China’s economic growth. And we ought to try to preserve the best features of that system. I believe it’s also been beneficial to the United States and our allies. But real problems have emerged, and we need to work with China to address those problems."
The "real problems" Yellen mentioned included security concerns at large, particularly the supply chain issues and concerns that have arisen due to China's large role in them.
"China relies in many ways on state-owned enterprises and engages in practices that I think unfairly damage our national-security interests," Yellen told the Atlantic Council. "And I think we’ve all recognized, in the aftermath of the pandemic, that our supply chains, while having become very efficient and excellent at reducing business costs, have not been resilient. And we need to address that as well."
Yellen went on to talk of the importance of China taking the Untied States seriously on national security and human rights as the two countries continue to work together, and noted that this cooperation needs to extend to European allies as well.
"I would see that involving friend-shoring, that we have a group of partners we feel comfortable with our geopolitical—we’re not worried about geopolitical issues," Yellen told the Atlantic Council. "We know that we can count on them, rather than take a purely domestic approach. I think we get the benefits of continued efficiencies in production by having a group of partners who work to shore up supply chains and make them more resilient. But I think China needs to take seriously working with us, and it’s not just the United States. Europe and other countries share concerns about some of the practices that China has that negatively impact our national security, human rights concerns."
On the potential for a bipolar world, Yellen concluded, "I would like to see us preserve the benefits of deep economic integration with China, not going to a bipolar world, but clearly that’s a danger that we need to address."