27 July 2009
United States, China Laying the Foundation for the Future
Washington — The United States and China are laying a foundation and a framework for future talks across a wide spectrum of issues from the global economic crisis to nuclear nonproliferation, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says.
“We are laying brick by brick the foundation of a stronger relationship, improving lines of communication, increasing understanding, setting priorities and creating a work plan,” Clinton said at the opening of the two-day U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Washington July 27. “Solutions to many of the global challenges today are within reach if we work together where our interests intersect, and where we cannot, we will be honest with each other.”
The Chinese, with a delegation of more than 150 senior officials, are led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.
President Obama opened the two-nation talks that will focus on foreign policy issues as well as economic concerns over trade and currency values. He told the assembled delegations that relations between the United States and China will heavily shape the course of the early 21st century.
Under President George W. Bush’s administration the two-nation talks had focused on problem areas in each other’s economies, especially in the value of currencies, trade and budget deficits. Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed in early April at the Group of 20 Economic Summit in London to re-establish the strategic and economic dialogue with a broader scope. Obama wanted to expand the talks to include foreign policy issues like nuclear weapons development by North Korea and Iran, conflict in Afghanistan, Pakistan, climate change, clean energy and global poverty, Clinton said.
“To meet these threats, we must find common ground and work together in common purpose, even as we may disagree on certain issues,” Clinton said. “None of these problems, even with our closer cooperation, will be easy to solve, and results will not happen overnight.”
The dialogue has been designed to be comprehensive and to pull in a wide range of skills within both governments in ways that traditional bureaucratic approaches aren’t designed for, she said.
State Councilor Dai Bingguo acknowledged that China and the United States are two different social and political systems with very different cultures and vastly different histories.
“We came here in a spirit of mutual respect, treating each other as equals, mutual benefit; and we’re in progress to have candid and in-depth dialogue with the United States to discuss overarching strategic and forward-looking issues that are essential to people’s subsistence, peace and development,” Dai said.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said actions taken by the United States and China have blunted the force of the economic recession and restored some confidence in the global economy. Both countries have made strong commitments to economic-stimulus programs and pledged to maintain them until recovery is firmly in place, Geithner said.
“Our meetings take place at a critical moment when China and the United States, as leading nations in the global economy, have both the opportunity and the responsibility to act not just for the benefit of our own citizens, but also for the global economy,” Geithner said. “We need to design a new framework to lay the foundation for more sustainable and more balanced global growth in the future, and a smooth transition to a more green global economy.”
Geithner said the United States is moving to repair its financial systems and put in place a set of conservative and effective regulations to lessen the chance of a similar crisis. He added that the United States is also committed to bringing down fiscal deficits projected to hit $1.84 trillion this year to more sustainable levels once a full recovery has been established.
“China and the United States have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the global trading system. And we share a special responsibility to ensure that global trade and investment will remain open and rules-based,” Geithner said.
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