The agenda for the Secretary of the Treasury at today's G-7 meeting in Niigata shows an oft-repeated list of priorities and only indirectly references China. finews.asia takes a look at the elephant in the room.
The media release sent overnight from the American State Department was short and clear, at least relatively. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is hosting a media conference later today ahead of the Group of 7 (G-7) meeting of finance ministers in Niigata.
According to the press office, Yellen will highlight the three main priorities at the three-day meeting with other finance ministers. They are strengthening the global macro economy, redoubling the joint commitment to Ukraine against Russia while working to improve economic resilience and security. So far, good - nothing is striking in those priorities or comments.
Although she did not reference China directly, it was clear that it was the unspoken issue that is on her mind and that of the other members of the G-7. As finews.asia recently reported, it was only in late April that Yellen made it clear that geopolitics was back when she indicated that money did not come first for the US in its relationship with China.
More Friend-Shoring
That can be indirectly extrapolated by the fact that Yellen also mentioned she would discuss deepening the resilience of supply chains, even those in low and middle-income countries while continuing initiatives such as «friend-shoring» and the G-7's $600 billion infrastructural investment partnership.
The latter two are clearly aimed at China, given the efforts currently underway to shift manufacturing away from China while at the same time counteracting the mainland's Belt and Road initiative.
So, even though there was no direct mention of China ahead of the meeting, the country is certainly casting its shadow among all participants and is very likely that the relationship will be directly referenced numerous times during the conference by those involved, including Yellen.
