There was no red carpet for US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen when she visited China, but to many, she did receive a very warm welcome – compared to her colleague, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in China weeks earlier.
During a four-day visit, Yellen, arguably the most dovish official in the Biden administration, met many senior economic and financial officials, including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, finance chief Liu Kun, central bank governor Yi Gang and Vice-Premier He Lifeng.
She also met Liu He, a retired economic heavyweight, but did not meet Xi, who was in Jiangsu for a provincial inspection.
Yellen’s high-level reception amid a tight schedule was seen as a signal that China is intent on stabilising bilateral relations and deepening collaboration despite growing friction on multiple fronts, including Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and US-led technology curbs.
When Yellen stepped off her plane in Beijing on Friday, she was greeted at the airport by Chinese finance ministry representative Yang Yingming, who shook hands with her for about 20 seconds, while smiling and pointing to a rainbow.
The heavenly sign was mentioned again during her meeting with the premier, who told Yellen: “I think it can apply to the US-China relationship too: after experiencing a round of winds and rains, we surely can see a rainbow.”
Video clips of the meetings from Chinese media showed Yellen sitting beside Li and opposite He.
Three weeks earlier, Blinken – who did meet Xi – was shown seated on one side of two long tables taking notes while Xi gave a speech at the head of a table.
The images were in contrast to a meeting three days earlier between Xi and Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder. Both men were shown sitting side by side with Xi occasionally leaning in towards Gates. Xi called Gates “an old friend” – a diplomatic term reserved for foreign entities who are seen as having contributed to China’s development.
Across Chinese social media platforms, online users seemed generally satisfied with Yellen’s visit. Some compared it with Blinken’s reception, and observed that the protocols were similar, with no red carpets or flowers.
Many considered the friendly “rainbow reception” at the airport, Yellen’s dinner with Chinese women economists, and meetings with senior officials as “high-level receptions” and therefore hopeful signs of improvements in bilateral ties.
“We are quite sincere. This time Yellen came, and we received her ‘beyond the standard’,” wrote one Weibo user, who argued that US demands should not be overbearing and unacceptable for the Chinese people. The post received thousands of likes on China’s Twitter-like platform.
When she was secretary of state, Hillary Clinton was welcomed to China with a red carpet. Western observers called the protocol to receive Blinken – who was greeted by a mid-level official, without flowers or a red carpet – a plan by Beijing to “humiliate” Blinken as part of its “diplomatic snub”.
But the welcome for Blinken was not a total break from past receptions.
The protocol – and even the conference room – was the same when then US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and then treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin visited China in February 2019, when they met Xi for economic and trade consultations.
Past meetings have been more relaxed. In 2013, days after Xi became China’s president, Xi met then US treasury secretary Jacob Lew at the Great Hall of the People. It was Lew’s first trip abroad in the role. State media showed the men chatting while sitting in armchairs with a flower basket in between them.