For more, see Daily Special(s): Fifth round of China-US S&ED



The China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) kicked off Wednesday in Washington DC with US Vice President Biden saying in the open talk that the relationship between the two countries is and will continue to be a mix of competition and cooperation.

Biden also voiced hope that the annual dialogue would build trust between the US and China. "We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable Internet. Outright theft that we are experiencing must be viewed as out of bounds and needs to stop," Biden said, calling for cooperation with China.

The US has been accusing China of waging a hacking campaign against its government and companies, with a study saying that the theft of trade secrets was costing American corporations hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

China has hit back that it too is a victim of hacking, charges that gained ammunition when US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden said the US had broken into the Internet routing network in China.

Biden also mentioned that the US need to strengthen cooperation with China to denuclearize North Korea.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang published an article in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, saying the S&ED is an important step forward taken by the two governments in their efforts to build a new type of major-country relationship. Wang stressed that business is the anchor of China-US relations, but pointed out that the expanding business ties have also led to disagreements and doubts.

The Washington Post Tuesday also posted an article by State Councilor Yang Jiechi pointing out that the dialogue is an important platform for conducting high-level communication on long-term, strategic and overarching issues.

"Both articles in US publications are part of public diplomacy," Wang Fan, professor with the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times, adding that this tactic would help ordinary Americans know more about China.

"Apart from the US government, China also needs to communicate with the US public and let them know what China is thinking," Wang said.

The Chinese foreign ministry said the third China-US Strategic Security Dialogue was held Tuesday under the framework of the S&ED. "Both sides have exchanged ideas on issues including strategic security and overall security, and have decided to communicate over them."

"Security is the weakest link in China-US relations," Liu Weidong, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, adding that holding the security dialogue shows the desire of both to strengthen cooperation on this issue.

Agencies contributed to this story