On April 28, 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a briefing for Chinese and foreign media. Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai and Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao introduced the background, main activities and significance of the fourth round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues (S&ED) to be held in Beijing from May 3 to 4.

Cui said that the S&ED was jointly initiated by President Hu Jintao and President Barack Obama in 2009. Hu's special representatives Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo will preside over the S&ED together with Obama's special representatives Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. They will then chair the strategic dialogue and economic dialogue respectively. The last three rounds of S&ED were very productive. The two sides issued the joint press release. The economic dialogue released the China-US Comprehensive Framework for Promoting Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth and Economic Cooperation and three joint fact sheets. The strategic dialogue published two lists of concrete results. More than 200 results have been achieved. In addition to the annual regular S&ED, the four special representatives also keep close communications through flexible small-scale meetings and irregular talks. China-US strategic security dialogue and Asia-Pacific affairs consultations have also been launched under the framework of the S&ED.

The fourth round of the S&ED is another major event between China and the US this year. The heads of more than 20 departments of each side will participate in the S&ED. There will be a joint opening ceremony, welcome dinner and breakfast meeting between the four representatives and Chinese and US entrepreneurs during the S&ED. The economic dialogue and strategic dialogue will be held separately. Chinese leaders will attend the opening ceremony and meet with the key members of the US delegation.

Under the strategic dialogue, a number of large and small-scale meetings will be held to ensure the two special representatives have enough time to exchange in-depth views on the China-US relations, cooperation in a wide range of areas, interactions in the Asia-Pacific region and other international and regional issues of common concern. Within the framework of the strategic dialogue, the two sides will hold the second China-US strategic security dialogue. As a high-level dialogue between the foreign affairs authorities and the military of China and the US, the strategic security dialogue mechanism was initiated during the third round of the S&ED last year. The focal area of this dialogue mechanism is the strategic security and general security issues of common concern. During this round of strategic dialogue, meetings or consultations on the foreign policy, climate change, energy security, Sudan and South Sudan, South Asia and the UN peacekeeping operations will be conducted. As a routine practice, the strategic dialogue will release the list of concrete results.

China expects to review and summarize the important consensus and useful experience gained in the four rounds of the S&ED and build references and inspiration for the future rounds of the S&ED. Through the S&ED, the two sides expect to enhance mutual understanding and trust, expand the bilateral and multilateral cooperation, well manage differences, push foward the cooperative partnership, plan the future of the S&ED mechanism and explore a new path of country-to-country relations between China and the US featured by mutual respect and win-win cooperation.

Zhu said that the economic dialogue within this round of the S&ED is an important event held under the background that Vice President Xi Jinping paid a successful visit to the US in February this year, China and the US issued the Joint Fact Sheet on Strengthening US-China Economic Relations and the two countries are committed to building the all-round mutually beneficial economic partnership. The main purpose is to build the China-US cooperative partnership according to the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit established by President Hu and President Obama, implement the results of Xi's visit to the US in the economic sector and further promote the development of China-US economic relations. The two sides will send a number of ministerial-level officials to the economic dialogue to discuss the strategic issues related to China-US economic relations from a strategic, holistic and long-term perspective.

As agreed by China and the US, the theme of the economic dialogue is to "deepen the strategic communication and pragmatic cooperation and promote the lasting and mutually beneficial China-US economic relations". Around this theme, the two sides will discuss the following topics: first, promote the strong, sustainable and balanced growth. They will mainly discuss the global economic challenges, the outlook of China and US' fiscal and monetary policies, the economic interaction between emerging and developed economies and its influence, rebalancing of the Chinese and the US economy and the economic structural adjustments of China and the US. Second, expand trade and investment opportunities. The two sides will mainly discuss the promotion of open trade and investment, multilateral trade system and regional trade arrangements, the reform of international rules and global economic governance, investment facilitation, innovation and competition. Third, financial market stability and reform. Discussions will focus on building a financial system beneficial to the real economy, strengthening financial supervision and cross-border regulatory cooperation, cross-border capital flow and financial market access, oil price market regulation and supervision of global commodities market.

The two heads of state attach great importance to the dialogue and require the economic groups of both sides to keep consultations and communications and promote positive results of China-US economic cooperation. Under the direct guidance of Wang and Geithner, the working groups of China and the US have engaged in close communications lately and been making careful preparations for the outcomes of the economic dialogue. Through the dialogue, China and the US will further deepen strategic mutual trust on major economic issues, expand bilateral pragmatic cooperation in the economic sector, properly handle the problems and differences occurring in the process of rapid development of China-US economic relations and make contributions to the building of an all-round and mutually beneficial economic partnership between the two countries.

Cui Tiankai and Zhu Guangyao also took questions of the journalists. Nearly 100 Chinese and foreign journalists participated in the briefing.