President Joe Biden will stop at nothing to protect America against security threats posed by China, even if the actions he must take damage his own nation’s economy, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has claimed.
“National security is of paramount importance in our relationship with China,” Yellen said on Wednesday in a speech in Washington. She gave the example of blocking China from obtaining certain technologies, adding, “We will not compromise on these concerns, even when they force trade-offs with our economic interests.”
Yellen accused China of “unfair” economic practices and of “taking a more confrontational posture” toward the US and its allies in recent years. Washington has a “broad set of tools” to deal with security threats from China, she added, such as export controls and sanctions against entities that provide support to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).