Acting as special representatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice Premier Wang Yang (1st R) and State Councilor Yang Jiechi (Unseen) arrive in Washington, the United States, for the fifth China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), on July 9, 2013. A Chinese delegation led by Wang Yang and Yang Jiechi arrived here Tuesday for the fifth China-U.S. S&ED, which will start Wednesday. (Xinhua/Wang Lei)
Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai on Sunday hailed this round of S&ED as the first major step in implementing the Xi- Obama summit's consensus, which will charter the course for future development of bilateral ties.
Cui expressed the hope that this dialogue will produce positive results, through creative thinking and concrete actions to enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and properly deal with differences.
Some U.S. experts regard this dialogue, the first cabinet-level talks since government reshuffles in both countries early this year, as a good chance for senior Chinese and U.S. officials to get to know each other and set up working relationship.
Kenneth Lieberthal, a veteran China expert at John Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, said the two sides, through holding this round of S&ED talks, want to keep the momentum created by the Xi-Obama summit and "try to sustain the momentum and begin to shape some practical outcomes."
China and the U.S. have been holding the annual S&ED talks since 2009, when President Obama came to power, as a major channel of communications to enhance mutual trust, boost cooperation on varied fields and properly deal with differences to prevent them from derailing the general relations.