Source: China Daily

12-02-2008 17:18

BEIJING - China wishes to maintain the existing high-level strategic contact with the United States despite a change of the US government, a senior Chinese official said here Thursday.

It is yet another explicit gesture that the Chinese government has made to the United States that the two sides should work together to secure smooth ties during and after the transfer of the US presidency in next January.

China and the United States are to hold the fifth round of the Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing next week, under the theme of "laying the cornerstone for long-term Sino-US economic partnership".

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will head a high-level delegation to meet with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and a number of prominent ministers.

"We strongly believe that this mechanism should and will carry on (under the new US administration)." Assistant Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao told resident reporters of major US media organizations in Beijing at a luncheon Thursday.

The SED, together with the Sino-US Strategic Dialogue and the hotline between the two heads of states, has become the major channel for policy makers in the two countries to maintain frequent contact and enhance mutual trust.

Since its inauguration in December 2006, China and the United States have reached consensus on nearly 150 subjects in four rounds of talks. The subjects covered a wide range of fields, including macro-economic policy, environmental protection, energy efficiency, trade promotion and anti-protectionism measures.

Zhu said the Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue has become a very important mechanism to advance economic links and the overall constructive relationship of cooperation between the two countries.

The international financial crisis had added significance to the SED, Zhu said. The challenges required both countries to step up high-level contact, share information and coordinate in developing their macro-economic policy.

Zhu said Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan had maintained "very close contact" with Treasury Secretary Paulson within the SED framework since the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in September. The two sides coordinated on the macro-economic policies they adopted to address the international financial crisis. China's 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package was welcomed by the United States. Paulson applauded the move as conducive to stablizing the global economy.