Five special discussion sessions have been scheduled during the dialogue, focusing on such issues as balanced development in urban and rural areas, sustainable development, trade, investment, energy and the environment.

The dialogue comes at a time when the China-US trade relationship enters a more complicated stage with the five-year interim period after China's WTO (find more in WTO package)accession coming to an end on December 11. That means China would face more intense foreign competition in various fields.

"That's why China and the US are holding the strategic economic dialogue at this time," said Yan Xuetong, a researcher with Tsinghua University. "The dialogue will help avoid the escalation of trade disputes."

Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Trade Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, added: "The significance lies in enhancing mutual understanding and identifying long-term, strategic principles that the two countries share."

Lu Feng, an economics professor at Peking University, said it is a wise move for Beijing and Washington to sit down and get to know each other's concerns.

The talks would have positive effects on pushing forward trade and investment and break down barriers, Lu said.

Ma Zhen'gang, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the frequent high-level exchanges between the two sides help develop common understanding.

Speaking to about 500 students of the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday at the Chinese Sciences and Humanities Forum, Ma said China and the United States now see their relations and common interests as more intertwined than ever before.

No one can deny that Sino-US trade is mutually complementary and beneficial, he said.
"If the bilateral trade benefited only one side, it would not have sustained such a dramatic growth in the past few years," Ma said.

The US delegation is the highest-profile economic mission the United States has sent to China, and includes the cabinet secretaries of commerce, labour, energy and health and human services as well as Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, who is paying his first visit to the country.

Agencies, Xinhua contributed to the story

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