US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, continuing efforts to deal with America's huge trade gap with China, will make his third visit to the country next month since joining US President George H.W.Bush's Cabinet last July.

The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that Paulson will meet in Beijing with Chinese government officials on March 7 and deliver a major speech on China's capital markets in Shanghai on March 8.

US government is trying to negotiate with the Chinese to open further financial markets to greater participation by US companies as a way to strengthen the China's financial system by introducing American expertise and competition.

Paulson announced last week that he was setting up a telephone hotline to connect him directly with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, his counterpart in a new high-level dialogue designed to ease trade tensions between the two nations.

Paulson also announced he had tapped Alan Holmer, a pharmaceutical executive and former top trade official in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, to be his top deputy oveseeing the China discussions. The next meeting of the China-US dialogue is scheduled for May 23-24 in Washington.

In addition to China, Paulson will stop in Tokyo for meetings on March 5 with Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi and Toshihiko Fukui, the head of Japan's central bank.

On March 6, Paulson will meet in Seoul, South Korea, with top finance officials in that country, Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said.