Chinese delegation arrives for 5th China-US dialogue

WASHINGTON - A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi arrived in Washington Tuesday for the fifth China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which will start Wednesday.

Acting as special representatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Wang and Yang will co-chair the two-day dialogue with US President Barack Obama's special representatives Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. Wang and Lew will co-chair the economic track talks, while Yang and Kerry will co-host the strategic track talks.

During the two days, leading officials from more than 20 departments and ministries of both countries will hold a series of talks and consultations on a wide range of political, security, economic and financial topics that cover major bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The two sides will hold two special joint sessions on climate change and energy security, in addition to the third strategic security dialogue. Notably, the cyber working group will convene for the first time to discuss the issue of cyber security, which threatens to strain bilateral ties recently.

Top on the agenda will be discussions on ways to implement the consensus on building a new type of major-country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation, as reached by the two presidents at their historic summit held in California last month.

Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai on Sunday hailed this round of S&ED as the first major step in implementing the Xi- Obama summit's consensus, which will charter the course for future development of bilateral ties.

Cui expressed the hope that this dialogue will produce positive results, through creative thinking and concrete actions to enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and properly deal with differences.

Some US experts regard this dialogue, the first cabinet-level talks since government reshuffles in both countries early this year, as a good chance for senior Chinese and US officials to get to know each other and set up working relationship.

Kenneth Lieberthal, a veteran China expert at John Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, said the two sides, through holding this round of S&ED talks, want to keep the momentum created by the Xi-Obama summit and "try to sustain the momentum and begin to shape some practical outcomes."

China and the US have been holding the annual S&ED talks since 2009, when President Obama came to power, as a major channel of communications to enhance mutual trust, boost cooperation on varied fields and properly deal with differences to prevent them from derailing the general relations.