US, China set for political talks

Senior officials from the United States and China will hold twice-yearly political talks in Beijing next week to hammer out issues of common concern, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo will head the two-day “strategic dialogue” beginning on January 17, ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told journalists.

“Based on the effectiveness of the previous four meetings, the two sides will continue to exchange views on Sino-US relations and important international and regional issues of common concern,” Jiang said.

Earlier rounds of the talks, first held in 2005, covered contentious bilateral issues and a range of global topics, including security in Northeast Asia, the environment, Iran and the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur.

US-China ties are clouded by a variety of issues, including US concerns over Beijing’s military build-up and human rights abuses, as well as an undervalued Chinese yuan, which is resulting in a huge US trade deficit with China. Beijing, Thursday, AFP