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Backgrounder: China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-09 16:07

BEIJING -- Senior Chinese and officials will meet again for the third round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington on Monday.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, representatives of Chinese President Hu Jintao, arrived in the US capital Sunday afternoon and will co-chair the talks with US President Barack Obama's representatives -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasure Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The following are some key facts about the dialogue:

On April 1, 2009, President Hu and President Obama agreed to establish the mechanism of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue during their first meeting in London on the sidelines of the G20 financial summit.

Since then, two rounds of the two-track dialogue have been held, the first one in Washington in July 2009 and the second one in May 2010 in Beijing.

Beijing and Washington have alternated in hosting the annual dialogue. Dai and Clinton host the "strategic track of the dialogue" while Wang and Geithner co-chair the "economic track" of the talks.

The dialogue mechanism combined and replaced two previously existed ones: China-US Strategic Dialogue and China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue, which had both played a major role in strengthening the China-US ties.

China-US Strategic dialogue, initiated by President Hu and then US President George W. Bush in 2004, was held six times.

China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue was inaugurated by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi in Beijing in September 2006. The biennial event was held five times.

Since the establishment of the two previous mechanisms, China and the United States have conducted effective dialogues on issues of strategic importance.

The ever evolving China-US relations and the changing international situation have added to the urgency of furthering the cooperation and communication between the two countries.