China US Photo:VCG

The economic and financial working groups of China and US held the fourth meeting in Washington DC on Tuesday, with the two side engaging in “in-depth, pragmatic and constructive” dialogue on how to implement the consensus reached earlier by the leaders of both nations, the macroeconomic situations of both countries and the world, how to achieve balanced growth, and other topics. 

The fourth meeting came after the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrapped up a high-stake six-day visit to China last week, during which the two countries reached new areas of consensuses in economic and financial fields and also agreed on future meeting arrangements. 

Observers said the dialogue, adding to a flurry of interactions between Chinese and US officials since the beginning of the year, sent a positive signal on how to achieve “steady progress” in stabilizing relations between the world’s two largest economies. 

But they also warned that the ball is in the US court to get relations back to the right track, while urging Washington to stop politicizing economic matters and ending the unreasonable crackdown targeting Chinese industries, which lately has centered on a bizarre narrative that labels Chinese clean technology exports with the “overcapacity” tag. 

During the fourth meeting of the Economic Working Groups, the Chinese side expressed concern about US trade and economic restrictions against China and responded further on issue concerning production capacity. They also discussed arrangements for future communication, and both sides agreed to continue their dialogue, according to a statement appeared on the website of China’s Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Liao Min, Vice Minister of Financeof China and US Treasury Under-Secretary for International Affairs Jay Shambaugh, and took place on the  sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

During the fourth meeting, the Chinese and US Financial Working Groups engaged in discussions on topics including each other’s monetary policies and how to maintain financial stability, cooperation in financial regulation, institutional arrangements in financial markets, cross-border payment and data, sustainable finance, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, as well as other financial policy topics of concern to both sides, according to a statement on the website of the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the country’s central bank.

The meeting also heard reports from technical expert groups of both sides on the financial regulatory frameworks of the two countries, the statement said. Both parties agreed to continue to dialogue.

The meeting was co-chaired by PBC deputy governor XuanChangneng and under secretary for domestic finance of the US Treasury Department Nellie Liang, and participators include National Financial Regulatory Administration, China’s securities regulator, the Federal Reserve, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Yellen also met with the Chinese delegation.

In February, Chinese and American officials held the third meeting of their economic and financialworking group.