Key China-US talks next week

China and the United States will hold their seventh meeting of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Washington from June 23-24, as well as the sixth Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE), the US State Department and Treasury Department announced on Monday.

China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vice-Premier Wang Yang, serving as Chinese President Xi Jinping's special representatives, will join US Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, special representatives to US President Barack Obama.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong and Secretary Kerry will lead the CPE event. Besides Washington, dozens of CPE events have been scheduled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Houston, Texas, from Friday to Sunday.

"In the forthcoming round of talks, China and the US should focus on improving bilateral communication on some key issues," said Ted Carpenter, a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a think tank in Washington.

"Such a modest goal is definitely achievable," he said. "It is not likely that the underlying substantive issues can be resolved quickly, since they are all rather complex, but measurable progress should be the goal," he said.

The S&ED will focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term economic and strategic interest, according to the State Department announcement.

The CPE promotes and strengthens people-to-people ties between the United States and China in education, culture, science and technology, sports, women's issues and health. It provides a high-level annual forum for government and private-sector representatives to discuss cooperation on exchanges in a broad, strategic manner, according to the State Department.

Executive Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, who was former Chinese ambassador to the US, and US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken will co-host the fifth Strategic Security Dialogue (SSD) on June 22. Senior civilian and military officials will exchange views on a range of security issues of strategic importance to both countries at the SSD.

The S&ED has been regarded as the most important platform for the two governments, often 200 people from each side, to engage with each other on a wide range of issues. It usually produces a long list of outcome documents for the two nations to expand cooperation and manage differences.

This year's meeting will come just a week after the visit to the US by Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Fan Changlong. It also comes about three months before the September visit to the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com