China expects new round of dialogue with US

WASHINGTON - The upcoming 5th China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) will produce positive results under the guidance of the important consensus on building a new type of major-country relationship reached at last month's historic summit, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said Sunday.

This round of S&ED will be held in Washington on July 10-11 and co-chaired by Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi with US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry.

In a joint interview with the Washington-based Chinese media outlets, Cui highlighted the significance of the dialogue, noting it will be the first high-level talks since the governmental reshuffles in both countries and the June 7-8 summit held at California's Annenberg Estate between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Barack Obama.

During that summit, Xi and Obama reached a consensus on seeking to build a new type of major-country relationship based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation, instead of rivalry and confrontation. The consensus has chartered the course for future development of the China-US ties, and the fifth S&ED will be the first concrete step in implementing it, Cui said.

"This dialogue is not only held at an important time, but also has far-reaching implications on the bilateral relations," the veteran Chinese diplomat said, adding it provides the opportunity for the two sides to turn the political will of building a new type of major-country relationship into policies and actions.

During the two-day dialogue in Washington, leading officials from more than 20 departments and ministries of both countries will hold a series of talks on wide-ranging topics, including trade, energy, climate change, cyber security, and Asia Pacific cooperation.

Specifically, the two sides will explore ways featuring positive interaction and cooperation in the Asia Pacific region, and discuss how to jointly deal with new uncertainties faced by both economies and dismantle trade barriers such as the unjustified restrictions on Chinese investments, the ambassador said.

On cyber security, which recently attracts more attention than any other topics, Cui rejected the US accusation of so-called China's hacking of US computer networks, saying Washington has failed to present hard evidence to prove it.

The revelations by Edward Snowden, a former contractor of the US spying agency the National Security Agency, about the massive cyber surveillance and spying operations carried out by the United States on other countries including China have demonstrated that cyber security is not a single issue between China and the US, but a global problem faced by most countries, he said.

Cui added that the cyber working group will convene for the first time during this round of dialogue, in an attempt to establish rules regarding cyberspace. He proposed to create "a common set of rules in cyber space through a multinational institution such as the United Nations."

The Chinese envoy also expressed the hope that this round of S& ED will bear fruits through creative thinking and concrete actions to enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation and properly deal with differences, so to ensure the healthy, steady and sustained development of the Sino-US ties.