Foreign and Military Affairs

Chinese officials arrive in US for strategic dialogue

(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-05-09 06:26

WASHINGTON - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo arrived here Sunday afternoon for the third round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue which will be held on May 9-10 in Washington DC.

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Dai will co-chair the "Strategic Track" of the dialogue with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while Wang will co-chair the "Economic Track" with US Treasure Secretary Timothy Geithner, each as a special representative of their respective presidents.

They will touch on a broad range of topics in economics and regional issues. The agenda on the strategic side will include the nuclear issues on the Korean Peninsula and in Iran as well as Sudan, and the recent turmoil in the Middle East,  US officials said.

On the economic side, the Americans will focus on Chinese currency exchange rate, intellectual property protection, market access and China's financial system reforms.

Chinese and American military representatives will join the dialogue for the first time since its inception two years ago, US officials said.

The dialogue mechanism was upgraded from former Strategic Dialogue and biennial Strategic Economic Dialogue, which were initiated by the two heads of state in 2005 and 2006, respectively.