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Chinese vice premier meets US lawmakers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-27 13:30

WASHINGTON: Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan Sunday held talks with US Representatives Rick Larsen and Mark Kirk. Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation to facilitate the world economy's recovery.

During the meeting, Wang said the US Congress had played an important role in promoting relations between the United States and China since the two countries established diplomatic ties three decades ago.

China and the United States, the world's largest developing and developed countries, shared extensive common interests, Wang said.

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The priorities for the two countries were to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to tackle issues related to the current global financial crisis, to firmly fight against trade and investment protectionism and to boost the world economic recovery, he said.

The Chinese vice premier also assured the American lawmakers that China would never change its opening-up policy.

Larsen and Kirk, both co-chairs of the bipartisan US-China Working group at Congress, said the United States attached great importance to the upcoming Strategic and Economic Dialogue with China and considered the talks an essential part of bilateral relations.

The US looked forward to strengthening cooperation with China, advancing bilateral relations and boosting the world economic recovery, they said.

Also on Sunday, Wang held talks with former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Justin Yifu Lin, chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank.

China and the US will kick off their first round of Strategic and Economic Dialogue here Monday.

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to address the dialogue's opening ceremony Monday morning, in a session which will be co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Wang, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.