The fourth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was held in Beijing May 3-4, 2012. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, special representatives of President Barack Obama, together with Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, special representatives of President Hu Jintao, co-chaired two days of S&ED discussions. The two sides engaged in candid, in-depth and constructive discussions and decided to advance practical cooperation between the United States and China in order to build a cooperative partnership based on mutual benefit and mutual respect.
The United States and China recognize that, as the most diverse dialogue mechanism with the highest-level and largest circle of participation jointly launched by President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao in 2009, the S&ED has served as a unique platform for the two countries to promote understanding, expand consensus, manage differences, improve mutual trust, and increase cooperation. The S&ED has also played an important role in advancing the development of U.S.-China-relations by broadening the basis on which we are building a cooperative partnership. The two sides decided to strengthen and more effectively use S&ED mechanisms for high-level institutionalized communication on strategic and economic issues.
During this year’s S&ED, the two sides reviewed the progress of U.S.-China relations over the past three years. The United States and China recognize that the breadth and depth of their nations’ interests and cooperation prove that the United States and China have a stake in each other's success. Given that cooperation should be the defining characteristic of U.S.-China relations, the two sides decided to strengthen bilateral relations, including through increased cooperation and coordination on a range of pressing global and regional issues, to build a new model of bilateral relations in the 21st century.
