US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she hopes to travel to China to re-establish contact with Beijing, acknowledging there were disagreements between the two countries, MSNBC on Wednesday reported her saying during an interview.

There are heightened tensions and pessimism in the China-US relationship over national security issues, including Taiwan, Russia's war in Ukraine, growing US export bans on advanced technologies and China's state-led industrial policies.

"My hope in traveling to China is to re-establish contact. There are a new group of leaders, we need to get to know one another," Yellen was quoted as saying by MSNBC.

"And we need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don't have misunderstandings, don't misunderstand one another's intentions."

The US is, and will, take actions to protect its national security interests even if it "imposes some economic costs on us," she said.

Yellen did not detail any specific time for a visit to China during her interview with MSNBC. But earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that she plans to be there in early July for the first high-level economic talks with her new Chinese counterpart. (Reuters)