CRI听力:China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue to Open Next Week

The 7th China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the 6th China-U.S. High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchanges will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's the first time that the two events are being jointly held in the United States.

Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi are set to lead the Chinese delegation to the S&ED, while the US side will be led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.

The CPE will be co-chaired by Vice Premier Liu Yandong and Kerry.

Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang says the two sides will hold discussions at the strategic dialogue on how to deepen pragmatic cooperation and properly handle differences.

"It is the firm direction of China's foreign policy to build a new model of major-country relationship with the U.S. that features 'non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual trust, cooperation and mutual benefits.' We believe that China and the US can and will cooperate in wider areas."

Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao says the economic side of the discussions will focus on three main areas.

"Both sides will hold in-depth discussions on three special topics: macroeconomics polices and structural reforms, promotion of trade and investment, as well as stability and reforms of the financial market."

This year's strategic dialogue is also expected to cover hot topics like the South China Sea disputes, cyberspace security and North Korea's nuclear program.

Discussions are also expected to be held to pave way for Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the US in September.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, expects the two countries to work more closely through this mechanism.

"There are some rules where China and the US have exactly the same interest. And as China continues to grow rich and grow large and grow more technically sophisticated, it will have increasingly the same interests as the US and Western Europe. So we're going to want China to write the rules with us."

In contrary to the S&ED, the CPE will focus on non-critical areas such as education, culture and health.

Vice Minister of Education Liu Limin says more than 100 agreements are expected to be reached.

"In the educational area, over the coming five years, China will invite 100 young American elites to visit China, push forward with a talent-exchange program that will involve 1,000 students from leading universities of each side and send 10,000 Chinese people to study in the US every year."

As the world's top two economies, the US and China saw their trade volume hit 550 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Official data show that U.S. investment in China has amounted to nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars, while Chinese investment in America has also rapidly grown.