(XINHUA NEWS) U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who is also the special envoy of U.S. President George W. Bush, reaches Beijing on April 2, starting his visit to China. During his stay in Beijing, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao meet him. Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who is the special envoy of President Hu, holds a working conference with him. Previously, Paulson indicates that the two parties would put forth efforts to discuss a series of important economic topics including the intellectual property.

During his meeting with Paulson on the afternoon of April 2, President Hu says China and the United States have successfully held three rounds of strategic economic dialogue up to date with positive results, playing important roles in promoting Sino-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and bilateral relations. China would like, together with the United States, to further strengthen dialogues and exchanges, constantly enhance strategic mutual trust and expand pragmatic cooperation, so as to encourage healthy and stable development of Sino-U.S. constructive cooperation.

Talking to Paulson, Wang Qishan notes that the mechanism of Sino-U.S. strategic economic dialogue is playing greater roles under the current situation. Both parties should adhere to the positioning of conducting the strategic and long-term mechanism with overall views according to the consensus reached by heads of the two countries under the principle of enhancing mutual benefit for win-win situation and strengthening mutual trust, so as to bring the roles of the dialogue platform into full play.

The fourth round of Sino-U.S. strategic economic dialogue is expected to be held in June in Washington, the United States. Before leaving for Beijing, Paulson tells U.S.-based CNBC TV that he would make preparation for the new round of strategic economic dialogue during his talks with Chinese side, and the two parties would make joint efforts to discuss a series of important economic topics like the RMB exchange rate and intellectual property.

Since the Sino-U.S. strategic economic dialogue is jointly initiated by President Hu Jintao and President George W. Bush in September 2006, it has become an important mechanism in Sino-U.S. economic relations. The dialogue mechanism lays special emphasis on the long and medium-term issues and topics with strategic significance in bilateral economic relations, constructing a long-term and stable framework for economic and trade development of the two countries. It plays irreplaceable roles in promoting healthy Sino-U.S. economic and trade development, preventing politicalization of economic and trading frictions and eliminating non-economic blocks in bilateral economic and trade activities. With the deepening of Sino-U.S. economic relations, the mechanism of strategic economic dialogue also expands its discussion topics. Besides traditional topics like trade, investment and IPR protection, new global topics like energy, environmental protection and food security are also included into bilateral discussion.