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With US President Joe Biden's naming of a new top economic adviser known for being relatively neutral, experts said that the Biden administration has finally appointed someone who might help steer China-US economic relations to a more pragmatic direction. 

But some experts warned that uncertainties persist as the US government won't alter its overall positioning of China as its competitor, and the role of the new adviser in mending bilateral ties could be quite limited in such a case, with the Biden administration continuing its decoupling push as part of a relentless assault on China's rise.

Biden on Tuesday named Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard to be his top economic adviser, sitting as the new director of the National Economic Council, who will be responsible for coordinating economic policies across the government, the Financial Times reported.

On the same day, Biden said he would nominate economic adviser Jared Bernstein to head the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Reuters reported.

Biden's presidency now faces a tough challenge for implementing his political ideas now that Republicans have taken control of the US House of Representatives.

Economic conditions in the US have improved in employment and taming inflation, but public skepticism surrounding the effectiveness of Biden's economic policies persists, and many economists have said that a recession this year is likely.

"Brainard is often considered as being relatively neutral and fact-driven. Biden's choice of her as his top economic adviser might signal that US economic policies will become more stable," Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Brainard said lately that US monetary policy needs to be sufficiently restrictive for some time to get inflation down to the Fed's 2 percent target, according to the FT report, calling her approach to monetary policy "dovish". 

She will also help Biden to smooth relations with Republicans, Gao said, as she has received some bipartisan support.

Brainard's new job might also bring some hope to China-US economic relations, another area that is troubling the Biden administration. 

"It's a lucky thing for both China and the US that the Biden administration has picked the right person for the job," Gao said, adding that she might hold the key to achieving China-US coexistence. 

The FT report said that she was seen as "sympathetic to more open trade and engagement with China" while she worked at the Treasury Department under former president Barack Obama. 

Gao said that as such pragmatists as Brainard assume key roles in the White House advisory team, they should exert some influence on Biden's policy direction toward China. 

He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, told the Global Times that Brainard's appointment might steer the US' economic policies toward China to become more "profession-oriented" instead of "politics-oriented".

In a speech in 2012, Brainard said that she had worked hard to find common ground (with China), recognizing that the two largest economies share an overwhelming interest in building a more robust global economy, according to the US Treasury Department's website. 

Some experts wonder if the US government will move to change its policy tone concerning China, although the Biden administration has sent some signals of restarting trade cooperation with China.

"In general, Washington's positioning China as its competitor in its national strategy has not changed, and moves to contain China's economy and block China's supply chains are proceeding. I think the uncertainties in China-US relations stemming from US hegemony and unilateralism is unlikely to alter," Chen Jia, a macroeconomic observer, told the Global Times.