US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Beijing on Thursday, kicking off a visit aimed at improving communication and stabilising the tense relationship between the world's two largest economies.

Yellen's trip through Sunday is her first to China as treasury secretary, and comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a rare visit to the nation.

The visit will see her seek to expand lines of correspondence, avoid miscommunication and widen collaboration on the global economy, climate change, debt distress and other issues, according to a Treasury official.

Chinese analysts have told state media that a speech Yellen gave in April, which ranked securing the national security interests of the US and its allies as the top plank of America's economic policy with China, did not inspire optimism for the visit. (AFP/Reuters)