China and the United States started their strategic dialogue in
Beijing with a first session on Monday morning. The dialogue aims
to facilitate bilateral relations.
The closed-door dialogue, the first senior level meeting of its
kind between the two countries, was co-chaired by Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and US Deputy Secretary of State
Robert Zoellick, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday.
The dialogue is a result of a consensus reached between Chinese
President Hu Jintao
and US President George W. Bush during the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Chile last year. It is likely that the
dialogue will take place twice a year.
The dialogue is a new high in Sino-US relations, following
recent frequent high-level visits and exchanges between the two
countries.
The recently concluded annual session of the Joint Committee on
Commerce and Trade (JCCT) was held on July 11 in Beijing during
which the two sides agreed to set up cooperation mechanisms on
cross border prosecutions for intellectual property rights (IPR)
violations and on the protection of film copyrights.
Zoellick is another important member of the Bush administration
to visit China within a month, after US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, Trade Representative Rob Portman, Secretary of
Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of Agriculture Mike
Johanns.
Zoellick said the discussions with Chinese officials would
enable the two countries "to get a better sense of one another's
interests. Where there are points of mutuality--and I believe there
are many; how to work cooperatively; but also, where we have
differences, how best to try to manage them."
Chinese State Councilor Tang
Jiaxuan visited the US last week to discuss the Korean
Peninsula nuclear issue and make preparations for President Hu's US
visit in September.
The dialogue coincides with the fourth round of?six-party
talks - involving the US, China, Russia, Japan, and the two
Koreas - on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue now underway in
Beijing.?
Negotiators are reportedly working on a first-ever joint
statement as the talks enter an unprecedented seventh day.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)
