China, US stresses progress in economy at S&ED

WASHINGTON - Senior Chinese and the US officials highlighted progress in trade and investment in their fifth round of annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) which concluded on Thursday.

"The fifth round of S&ED has achieved tangible fruits on a wide range of areas of long-term, strategic and overarching importance, including China-US Bilateral Investment Treaty," China's Vice Premier Wang Yang, one of the two Chinese co-chairs of the dialogue, said at the closing session.

The S&ED is an important platform to deepen bilateral cooperation and properly handle differences, while senior Chinese and US officials got to know each other better during the two-day dialogue, Wang said.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who co-chaired the dialogue, said that the dialogue was built on the framework agreed upon by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama at a summit in California last month.

"The mission of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue is to make concrete progress on the issues that matter to each and every one of us, on both sides of the Pacific and beyond," Lew said.

Lew highlighted progress made in discussions concerning economic cooperation, energy, finance and cyber issues, saying "while today's commitments do not resolve all of the concerns of either side, they do represent real progress, progress that will create new opportunities for US workers and companies in an expanding Chinese market."

Earlier in the day, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said here that China and the United States agreed to start the substantive discussions of the China-US Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) as soon as possible.

On the strategic track, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, co-chair of the dialogue of the Chinese side, said at the closing session that the two sides discussed issues concerning building a new relationship between China and the United States, advancing mutual trust, cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, climate change and energy security.