China, U.S. hold 4th meeting of economic and financial working groups

The economic and financial working groups of China and U.S. held the fourth meeting in Washington DC on Tuesday, with the two sideengaging in “in-depth, pragmatic and constructive”dialogue on how toimplement 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 thatthe ball is in the U.S. court to get relations back to the right track, while urging Washington to stop politicizing economic mattersandending the unreasonable crackdown targetingChinese 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 U.S. trade and economic restrictions against China and responded further on issue concerning production capacity. They also discussed arrangements for future communication, andboth sides agreed to continue their dialogue, according to a statement appearedon the website of China’s Ministry of Finance on Wednesday.

The meeting was co-chaired by Liao Min, ViceMinisterofFinanceof China and U.S. Treasury Under-Secretary for International Affairs Jay Shambaugh, and took placeon the sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF.

During the fourth meeting, the Chinese and U.S. Financial Working Groups engaged in discussions on topics including each other’s monetary policies and how to maintainfinancial stability, cooperation in financial regulation, institutional arrangements in financial markets, cross-border paymentand 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 (PBOC), 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 PBOC deputy governor XuanChangneng and under secretary for domestic finance of the U.S. Treasury DepartmentNellie Liang, and participators include National Financial Regulatory Administration, China’s securities regulator, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. 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.