Janet Yellen, the United States’s Treasury secretary, will be travelling to Beijing in order to help strengthen the ties between the world’s two biggest economies.

Yellen’s visit follows US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing last month, and the two visits come as the US and China seek to bridge the gaps between them and stabilise their relationship.

The two countries have had their differences over a number of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, trade and supply chain issues, and the status of Taiwan. On top of this, the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon hovering over the US only served to add more fuel to the fire.

Yellen will be meeting with senior Chinese officials and leading US firms during her stay, and one of the main topics of discussion is expected to be China’s new national security and espionage law, which came into force on July 1.

The US has expressed concern about the measure, as it believes the scope of espionage activity could be widened. The discussions between the two countries are important for global economic growth, as well as tackling the mounting debt problem in the Global South. The US is not intending to gain any economic advantage over China, but rather to build longer-term channels of communication.

For Beijing, it is looking for concrete steps from Washington to show that decoupling and holding back China is not the goal. Thus, Yellen’s visit serves as an important platform for both sides to come together to responsibly manage their relationship, communicate about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges.