Special Report: 30th Anniversary of Sino-U.S. Diplomatic Relations

Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009.(Xinhua/Yao Dawei) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States on Saturday agreed to establish a dialogue on strategic and economic issues and pledged to work together to tackle the global financial crisis and climate change.

    The agreement came out of a flurry of meetings between Chinese leaders and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday.

    "Now it is more important than anytime in the past to deepen and develop China-U.S. relations amid the spreading financial crisis and increasing global challenges," Chinese President Hu Jintao told Clinton.

    Saying the relations were "among the most important bilateral relations in the world," Hu proposed both countries work closely to address international financial crisis and tackle climate change and other global challenges so as to seek a sound and smooth growth of bilateral ties.

    Clinton told Hu she felt like a beginning of "a new era" of bilateral relations characterized by "positive cooperation."

    Clinton's visit to Beijing, the last leg of her inaugural overseas trip, marked the beginning of face-to-face diplomacy between the two countries since the Obama administration took office last month.

    "This morning I and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi agreed in principle to a strategic and economic dialogue between our two countries that we will work on with the hope of having you and President Obama formally announce it in London," Clinton said.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (1st R) meets with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (1st L) in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009.(Xinhua/Liu Weibing) Photo Gallery>>>

    The dialogue will be built on the earlier Strategic Economic Dialogue, initiated during the Bush administration.

    Another existing senior-level dialogue at vice ministerial level was also incorporated in the new dialogue.

    Clinton said she and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will be involved in the fresh mechanism.

    "The integration of earlier dialogues into one signaled the Obama administration's intention to fully advance economic, strategic and security ties rather than focus too much on economy," said Zhu Feng, a scholar with Peking University's International Studies School.

    "World events have given us a full and formidable agenda," Clinton told the press following the 100-minute talks with her Chinese counterpart Saturday morning.

    "We discussed the matters of bilateral concerns and spent a great deal of time on the array of global problems that both countries face together and we can work together to solve."

    One of the key areas both agreed on was to fight the global financial crisis.

    "We appreciated the efforts of the U.S. government to stimulate the economy and tackle the financial crisis," Yang said.

    Yang said China's 4-trillion-yuan (about 580 billion U.S. dollars) stimulus package would help ensure the growth of China's economy, which is the country's biggest contribution to addressing the global financial crisis.

    "Facts proved that both countries had worked very well in dealing with the crisis. We would like to work more closely with the United States."

    Clinton said, "We have every reason to believe the United States and China will recover, and together we will help lead the world recovery."

    Both confirmed that the two presidents will meet on the sidelines of a G20 summit in London in April, the first since Obama took office last month.

    She thanked China for its "continued confidence in U.S. Treasuries."

    China replaced Japan as the top holder of U.S. treasury debt last September, with its overall holding hitting 585 billion U.S. dollars, according to U.S. Treasury data.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (R) shakes hand with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009. Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing on Friday evening, kicking off her visit to China. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Yang said China did use foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. treasury bonds. "We will continue to ensure reserves' safety and liquidity when deciding on the ways and means of deploying the country's about two-trillion-U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves in the future."

    Yang accepted Clinton's invitation to visit the United States in March.

    On climate changes, Yang and Clinton agreed to work for a successful Copenhagen conference scheduled for December 2009.

    "The cooperation on energy resources and environmental protection is significant to the bilateral ties," Yang said.

    Clinton said the U.S. and China will build "an important partnership" to develop clean energy technologies and speed up the transition to a low carbon economy.

    Later Saturday, Clinton visited a clean thermal power plant built with General Electric and Chinese technology, which Clinton hailed as "an example of Chinese and American cooperation to produce heat and energy from a new technique that reduce much less emission."

    In coincidence with Clinton's visit, Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday announced both countries would hold an annual mid-level military-to-military meeting later February, a sign of resumed bilateral military ties.

    Clinton will also meet with Chinese women representatives and go to church before concluding her week-long Asia trip Sunday noon.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (2nd L) holds talks with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2nd R) in Beijing, China, Feb. 21, 2009. Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing on Friday evening, kicking off her visit to China.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

Clinton: U.S. to "deepen and broaden relationship" with China

    BEIJING, February 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Saturday morning, both pledging to upgrade bilateral ties in dealing with common challenges.

    "As we start the new administration of President Obama, we want to deepen and broaden our relationship," said Clinton who arrived here Friday night after her tour to Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. Full story

FM: China to have human rights dialogue with U.S.

    BEIJING, February 21 (Xinhua) -- China will conduct dialogues on human rights issues with the U.S. on the basis of mutual respect and noninterference in each other's internal affairs, said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Saturday.

    "Although differences exist, China is willing to conduct the dialogues with the U.S. to push forward the human rights situation on the premise of mutual respect and noninterference in each other's internal affairs," Yang said. Full story

China stresses security, liquidity when deploying forex reserves

    BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China on Saturday reaffirmed its efforts to ensure security and liquidity when deploying foreign exchange reserves.

    "We did use foreign exchange reserves to buy U.S. treasury bonds. Our principle of using reserves is to ensure security and liquidity," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told the press following talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Full story

Chinese President to meet with Obama in London

    BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet for the first time with U.S. President Barack Obama during a G20 summit in London in April, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said here Saturday.

    The meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama will be of great significance, Yang said, adding that both countries are to make earnest preparation for the meeting. Full story

China, U.S. to hold defense meeting 

    BEIJING, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States are to hold an annual work meeting of their defense ministries this month, a spokesman of the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a news release.

    David Sedney, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, will visit China from Feb. 27 to 28 for a meeting with the head of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of Defense of China. Full story

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives for China visit

    BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing on Friday evening, kicking off her first visit to China since she took office.

    Clinton was greeted by Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi at the airport.  Full story

Expert: Effective U.S.-China co-op on climate change can increase mutual trust 

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States and China can increase mutual trust over long-term intentions through effective cooperation on critical global issues such as climate change, a noted China expert said.

    Although the U.S.-China relationship has made much progress in the past 30 years, mutual mistrust over each other's long-term intentions remains deep, said Professor Kenneth Lieberthal from the University of Michigan. Full story

Commentary: China, U.S. should enahnce mutual trust, co-op to tackle global challenges  

    BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's China tour scheduled for Friday is an important high-level visit since the Obama administration took office. At this new historic juncture, the two countries should stick to the right direction of their constructive cooperation and push their bilateral ties further forward.   Full story

Hillary Clinton highlights Asia, China in first major speech 

    NEW YORK, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- In her first major policy speech as U.S. secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday attached great importance to developing stronger relations and having closer cooperation with Asian countries, in particular China.  Full story