SHOULDERING RESPONSIBILITIES

Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong (L) meets with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington DC, the United States, June 24, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

As the two largest economies in the world, both China and the United States play significant roles in global affairs. During the two-day high-level talks, both sides agreed to further cooperation on issues critical to the welfare of human beings.

The two sides vowed to work together to support the African Union (AU)in building the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fight epidemic diseases like Ebola.

According to Ren Minghui, director-general of the Department of International Cooperation at China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, since the end of last year, the AU has been talking with the Chinese and US governments about building a regional disease prevention and control system in Africa.

"Now, the three parties are exploring ways of further cooperation," Ren said. "Based on a unified and integrated plan, China and the US are willing to offer their respective aid to help the African Union build this system, which will be the first regional disease surveillance system in the African continent."

Regarding climate change, both countries have pledged to continue their efforts to tackle the global problem.

Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative for global climate change talks, said that the two sides have specified 13 priority areas for cooperation, eight of which have already seen more than 30 projects inaugurated.

During this year's talks, the sides also agreed to launch cooperation projects in the areas of shale gas, nuclear energy, clean energy, carbon capture, utilization and storage, as well as green trade.

Meanwhile, Xie said China and the United States will jointly convene a climate-smart and low-carbon cities summit in the US west coast city of Los Angeles in September this year to encourage both central governments and local authorities to get involved in the efforts to combat climate change.