US Vice President Joe Biden would kick off the two-day US-China Strategic and Economic dialogue (SED) later this week, which would focus on energy security and climate change, in addition to the contentious issue of cyber security, among other issues, officials said.
Being held in the backdrop of the last months US China summit meeting in California, senior administration officials yesterday said the dialogue would focus on coming up with mechanisms to implement the decisions taken by the US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in early June.
"The S&ED remains the sort of key mechanism for putting into practice our two presidents' vision. And so it is important, just coming about four weeks after their discussions in California, we're going to continue to deepen discussion on the strategic side on issues like the Korean Peninsula.
"We're also going to discuss Syria, Iran, regional security issues, human rights," a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call.
One of the key feature of this year's S&E dialogue would be the two special sessions on the first day -- one focused on energy security issues, the other one on climate change.
"That is a new sort of feature to the schedule. We think that because of the cross-cutting nature of those issues," the official said.
While US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Treasury Secretary Jack Lew would co-chair the American side; the Chinese delegation would be c-chaired by the Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councillor Yang Jiechi.
Given the illness of his wife, the schedule of Kerry remains uncertain as he is attending his wife in Boston, who was admitted to the hospital on Sunday under critical conditions.
Her condition was described as fair by the doctors, yesterday.
While the American side would be represented by heads of some 14 different agencies on the economic track of the dialogue, the Chinese would have representation from 16 agencies.
"We will discuss ways that we can continue to ensure an open, balanced and mutually beneficial trade investment relationship that helps provide a level playing field for our companies and that supports jobs and growth.
"This will include stronger protection enforcement of IPR, including trade secret theft," the official said.
The two delegations would also focus on ways to strengthen and develop their financial systems and to build a more resilient global financial system.
"In China, this means deepening financial reforms that will support dynamic private sector firms and integrating China into the global economy," the official added.
