Opinion

Promote China-US ties on key dialogue platform

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-24 15:55

WASHINGTON - The second round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) opened in Beijing on Monday. It is of practical significance for the two giants to hold such talks to enhance their positive, cooperative and comprehensive relations.

The S&ED mechanism, co-sponsored by Chinese President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart Barack Obama, is aimed at deepening communications on matters of strategic, long-term and overall significance and serves to boost the healthy development of China-US relations.

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Highest in level and largest in scale among over 60 dialogue channels between China and the United States, the S&ED has become a paramount platform for the two countries to cultivate their ties in the new century, helping them understand each other's major concerns, augment mutual trust and broaden mutually beneficial cooperation.

Since the first S&ED was successfully held in Washington in July 2009, much progress has been made in China-US relations, including deeper cooperation in trade, energy, environment, people-to-people exchanges, education and other fields, and closer coordination on a wide range of regional and global affairs, including the financial crisis, climate change, disaster prevention and relief and disease control.

Despite the turns and twists that once disturbed China-US ties, the two countries have managed to bring their relations back on track through concerted efforts. Particularly notable was the meeting between Hu and Obama in April in Washington during the nuclear security summit. Such endeavors have diminished the obstacles to the normal development of China-US relations and paved the way for the second round of S&ED.

The two countries attached remarkable importance to the strategic talks, and have maintained close communication and coordination for months throughout the preparatory works. The US government has sent a delegation of over 200 officials from various departments to the talks, and the Chinese side has pledged to join hands with the US guests to make the session successful and productive.

Along the strategic track, relevant authorities from the two countries will discuss issues such as energy security, climate change, UN peacekeeping missions, counterterrorism. Along the economic track, the two sides will exchange views on, among other issues, economic recovery and growth, trade and investment, stability of financial markets and reform of the international financial systems.

Respectively as the largest developing economy and the largest developed one, China and the United States share wide-ranging interests while having diverse differences. It is neither possible nor realistic to expect that all problems are solved in one round of dialogue.

What is of primary importance is that China and the United States communicate with each other in accordance with their strategic, long-term and overall interests and handle their bilateral relations from strategic and long-term perspectives.

Thus the two sides should seize the opportunity of the second S&ED and commit themselves to expanding consensus, narrowing gaps, enhancing mutual trust and reaching a win-win situation on the basis of mutual respect and equality, thus providing constant impetus to the healthy development of China-US relations.