Senior foreign policy officials from China and the US yesterday had "fruitful" exchanges during their third round of bilateral strategic talks.

 

The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula was discussed by Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and visiting US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who co-chaired the one-day closed-door meeting, according to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.

 

"We had a very productive session this morning," Burns told Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who he met after the dialogue session.

 

"The US and China should be partners and try to secure stability and peace in the world."

 

At a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who was one of the Chinese delegation sent to Pyongyang last month after its nuclear test, Burns said: "We will see what we can do with (the Korean nuclear issue)."

 

The Foreign Ministry statement added: "China and the US agreed to step up cooperation on a wide range of bilateral issues, and work for closer communication and consultation on major international and regional issues."

 

Burns arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and it was his first time leading the US strategic dialogue team.

 

Two previous rounds of dialogue were held in August and December last year.

 

Burns, along with Robert Joseph, Undersecretary of State for International Security, is scheduled to call on top Chinese leaders in Beijing, described as a prelude to President Hu Jintao's planned meeting with US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Hanoi next week.

 

The twice-yearly strategic dialogue, sanctioned by Hu and Bush at the 2004 APEC Meeting, was inaugurated in 2005 by Dai and former US Deputy Secretary Robert Zoellick in Beijing.

 

Ruan Zongze, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said the two countries must continue consultations in key areas such as trade, terrorism and health at various levels.

 

A US scholar also noted that the success of such exchanges depends on understanding nuances.

 

There is no way the Americans can tell the Chinese what they should do, a senior research fellow from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University told China Daily in Beijing on Monday.

 

"The Chinese are going to work things out their own way," David Brady, deputy director of the institution, said.

 

Brady also listed the challenges that China faces, from unemployment to poverty alleviation. "You are going to bring one percent of the population a year that is 13 million people into the cities, and that's (the population of) New York City."

 

(China Daily November 9, 2006)