U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue

The U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) (simplified Chinese: 中美战略与经济对话; traditional Chinese: 中美戰略與經濟對話; pinyin: Zhōng Měi zhànlüè yǔ jīngjì duìhuà) was a high-level dialogue for the United States and China to discuss a wide range of regional and global strategic and economic issues between both countries.

[1]: 288 The S&ED attempted to address the challenges and opportunities that the United States and China face on a wide range of regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interests.

[11] The S&ED was organized around a high-level, cross-cutting structure that addresses the geopolitical nature of mutual concerns in strategic and economic discussions.

The S&ED provided a forum for ongoing and productive bilateral engagement between U.S. and Chinese officials with diverse responsibilities for both economic and strategic issues.

Strategic Track Economic Track The meetings for the first round of the dialogue took place July 27–28, 2009 in Washington, D.C.[12] Vice Premier Wang Qishan held talks with Congressmen Rick Larsen and Mark Kirk, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Justin Yifu Lin, chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank, on July 26, 2009, prior to the S&ED.

[16] Hillary Clinton, Wang Qishan, Timothy Geithner, Dai Bingguo and President Obama addressed the opening ceremony of the first S&ED on July 27, 2009.

[19] The agenda included the global economic interest, North Korean nuclear weapons production and proliferation, climate change, and overseas development assistance.

Chinese participants met with and were addressed by President Barack Obama and spent some time on Capitol Hill meeting with members.

For example, for climate change, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, science adviser John Holdren, Carol Browner, Lisa Jackson from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others participated for the U.S. For the Chinese side, Vice-Minister Zhang Guobao of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) spoke on energy issues and NDRC Vice-Minister Xie Zhenhua talked about the substantial steps that China is taking to limit CO2 emissions.

[23] In an effort to reassure the Chinese about their investment, Obama rolled out top officials to meet with Chinese representatives including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Peter Orszag, Obama's budget director, and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk among others.

[26] The New York Times reported how 200 Chinese bankers, bureaucrats and policymakers scrutinized Obama's economic strategy and commented "how much the global financial crisis has changed the subtle balance of power in meetings of 'the G2'".

[27] The U.S. and China also announced a resumption of routine military contacts and high-level visits by defense officials when Admiral Timothy Keating met with his Chinese counterpart during the dialogue.

[29][30] The Strategic Track of the S&ED consists of four pillars: Climate change, clean energy, and the environment were also discussed in separate special sessions.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo who are special representatives of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who are special representative of US President Barack Obama co-chaired the SED and delivered speeches respectively.

[41] Vice Premier Wang Qishan said in his speech that History and reality both have shown and future will ultimately prove that no difficulty can ever stop the trend of cooperation between China and the US, in which we are full of confidence.

The aspiration of friendship between the Chinese and the US people and the determination and courage of politicians of the two countries converged into an irresistible historical trend and opened the door of China-US relations which had been closed for more than 20 years.

[40] Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the world economy was suffering from the heavy impact of financial crisis when the SED was initiated two years ago.

The US needs to consolidate the foundation of future economic growth, improve education, encourage innovation, increase investment and conduct financial reform.

The United States and China affirm that both countries will, based on common interest, promote more extensive economic cooperation, from a strategic, long-term, and overarching perspective, to work together to build a comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership, add to prosperity and welfare in the two countries, and achieve strong, sustainable, and balanced growth of the world economy.

Deepen Macroeconomic Cooperation (Clause 5–7) Both countries recognize the fundamental consistency between their goals to promote strong, sustainable, and balanced growth, and commit to further strengthen macroeconomic-policy communication and coordination.

[43] V. Strengthen Regional and International Economic Cooperation (Clause 16–20) The two sides commented positively on the progress in U.S.-China relations since President Hu Jintao’s state visit to the United States in January 2011, reaffirmed their commitment to the January 19, 2011 U.S.-China Joint Statement, and in accordance with the Joint Statement, committed to nurture and deepen bilateral strategic trust and work together to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit.

The U.S. Coast Guard's Pacific Area Commander, Vice Admiral Manson Brown, intends to visit China May 29 to June 4 and meet with representatives of several Chinese agencies supporting maritime governance.

Breakout Sessions and Other Meetings[44] Held breakout sessions on UN peacekeeping, Sudan, law enforcement cooperation, climate change, de-mining and conventional weapons destruction, as well as electronics stewardship, and conducted a series of bilateral meetings between senior officials on a broad range of issues covering the entire strategic track of the U.S.-China relationship.

To increase public saving, the President's Budget freezes discretionary spending for five years, freezes government salaries for two years, and brings the deficit to three percent of GDP by the second half of this decade – a path consistent with the Administration's commitments to cut the deficit in half by 2013, and to stabilize or reduce the national debt as a share of the economy.

To lay the foundation for future growth, including through greater U.S. exports, the United States will increase and improve investment in innovation, infrastructure, and education.

The two countries reiterate their support for the G-20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth, and reaffirm their commitments to improve the living standards of our citizens through strong economic and jobs growth, and use the full range of policies required to strengthen the global recovery and to reduce excessive external imbalances and maintain current account imbalances at sustainable levels.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to work proactively to resolve bilateral trade and investment disputes in a constructive, cooperative, and mutually beneficial manner.

China will steadily increase its solicitation of public opinions on regulatory documents with a direct influence on the rights and obligations of citizens, legal persons, or other organizations.

China welcomes the United States’ commitment to implement measures in 2011, to enhance regulatory transparency, including by taking steps to ensure the online publication of the text of proposed regulations, as well as supporting technical and scientific information, at www.Regulations.gov for a public comment period of 60 days, and the United States’ decision to strengthen the Office of Management and Budget's participation in the ongoing Transparency Dialogue.

[48] The seventh round of meetings took place between U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Vice-Premier Wang Yang on June 23–24, 2015 in Washington, D.C.