WASHINGTON - US Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) is essential to both countries.

Biden made the remarks during the opening session of the two countries' fifth round of the annual talks, noting relationship will work "only if leaders and citizens approach it with sense of vision and spirit of maturity."

"We will have our disagreements. We have them now," said Biden. "But if we are straight forward, clear, and predictable with one other, we can find solutions that work for both of us."

The vice president also expressed condolences to the two Chinese victims of the Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco.

"I want to start by expressing my sadness, the sadness of the American people in the loss of two beautiful young lives, young Chinese students in the Asiana plane crash on Saturday," he said.

A Boeing-777 of South Korea's Asiana Airlines veered off the runway upon landing at San Francisco International Airport Saturday morning, killing two Chinese teenage girls who were traveling to the United States for a summer camp.