WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has sketched out her vision for a new era of economic cooperation among nations that share key values and principles, in a sweeping speech that laid down a stern challenge to China.
Yellen, speaking a week before global finance chiefs meet in Washington, called Beijing to account for its ever-closer relationship with Moscow and blasted China for practices that “unfairly damage” the national-security interests of others. She alluded to the use of market positions — China is a key provider of crucial rare-earth metals — for “geopolitical leverage.”
While she said she didn’t want the evolution of a “bipolar” global system between U.S.-led and China-led elements, the Treasury chief said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a moment where nations need to decide where they sit. “The future of our international order, both for peaceful security and economic prosperity, is at stake,” she said.
