US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will host Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for what she calls "intensive diplomacy." The move appears to be an effort to lay the groundwork for a meeting between both countries' presidents later this month.
Yellen will meet with He in San Francisco on Thursday and Friday, ahead of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
In an op-ed published by the Washington Post on Monday, Yellen wrote that she and US President Joe Biden are "clear-eyed" about navigating the complexities of the US-China relationship.
She stated that she and the vice premier "have an obligation to establish resilient lines of open communication." She also said that they are obliged to "prevent disagreements from spiraling into conflict."
Yellen added that they have already established working groups to drill into areas where they can make "tangible progress."
Chinese leaders have criticized US export controls on advanced computer chips and other technologies.
Yellen said that healthy economic competition "requires a rules-based, level playing field."
She said that she will address what she calls Beijing's "unfair" practices, including "coercive actions" against American companies.
Still, Yellen said Americans and Chinese people can make progress on global challenges together.
She pointed to breakthroughs on climate change.
She also said in the statement that the US and China can work together as the world's two largest economies to put the global economy on surer footing.