WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday delivered a pointed warning to China on its alignment with Russia, suggesting potential economic consequences from the international community depending on how it approaches President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“China has recently affirmed a special relationship with Russia,” Yellen said in a speech Wednesday to the Atlantic Council. “I fervently hope that China will make something positive of this relationship and help to end this war.”
Yellen used the speech — at a think tank established in the 1960s to foster support for NATO and the concept of collective security, and coming a week before a spring gathering of global finance chiefs — to lay out the contours of a revitalized international financial and economic architecture. While she said she hopes to avoid a “bipolar” split between U.S.- and China-led systems, her remarks may deepen bilateral tensions.
