Top officials of the United States and China kicked off the bilateral Strategic and Economic Dialogue here on Monday, a series of annual broad-agenda policy discussions focusing on everything from trade and economic issues to human rights.
The third joint meeting of the U.S.-China S&ED is hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner.
On the U.S. side, other senior officials attending include Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and Senior Coordinator and Executive Secretary for China and the S&ED at the Department of Treasury David Loevinger. The Chinese co-Chairs of the event include Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.
At a background briefing, Mr. Campbell said in many respects it was the U.S.' “most important venue... for managing this very complex relationship between the U.S. and China”.
Earlier this year Chinese President Hu Jintao had visited Washington, an occasion on which U.S. President Barack Obama pressed him further regarding concerns over human rights violations, a sensitive subject for Chinese authorities.
In his briefing Mr. Campbell reiterated the human rights focus, “I do want to underscore it is our intention to raise issues of concern directly, honestly, and opening with our Chinese interlocutors, including issues of concern associated with human rights.”
He suggested to attending media that “regional problems” would also be a major focus of the talks, including comparing notes on “where we stand with respect to North Korea, and we will be very clear on what our expectations are for moving forward.”
He added that the joint approach to Iran would also be considered.
