U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday called on China and the U.S. to stabilize relations ahead of the upcoming G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where the two countries' presidents are expected to meet, according to a New York Times report.

Yellen made the comments on her flight to Indonesia, where Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will hold their first in-person meeting since the latter took office last year.

"I think stabilizing the relationship and trying to get it on a better footing while recognizing that we have a whole range of concerns, and we would like to address those," she said in an interview with the NYT when asked what could be done to improve U.S.-China relations. 

Yellen said it is important for Beijing to understand the rationale behind Washington's actions, and that she understands China's concern, for example, about being denied access to advanced U.S. technology.

These actions are not intended to "completely paralyze China's economy and stop its development," and need to be explained to the Chinese, she added.

"We have national security concerns and if our policies are having unintended consequences more broadly for China, it's important to be able to hear what their concerns are and potentially to respond to those," Yellen said.