中美誓言共同加强双边关系

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After the conclusion of two days of talks, the United States and China agreed on a broad framework of cooperation as they strive to lift the global economy out of recession and forge a closer alliance. At the conclusion of the first round of what would be an annual strategic and economic dialogue, the countries agreed to maintain stimulus spending until economic recovery is secured and signed a memorandum on climate change. But there was little in the way of specifics. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

"Laying this groundwork may not deliver a lot of concrete achievements immediately, but every step on this path to create confidence and understanding is a very good investment."

The United States and China agree to take steps to reduce trade imbalances with Washington promising to boost private savings while Beijing works to promote more domestic demand. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner:

"We wanna be very careful, as we work together to help move the economy, global economy back from crisis to growth, we don't lay the seeds of future crisis. So as part of that, again, this is the critical thing, that as we move to raise private savings in the United States; as we move to bring down our fiscal deficits in the future; as we move to put in place a more stable, more resilient financial system in the United States, we need to see actions in China and other countries to shift the source of growth more to domestic demand."

On the strategic side, Clinton did not directly address how North Korea came up in the talks but said she welcomed China's view of Iran.

"I was also pleased that China shares our concerns about Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state."

US President Barack Obama is expected to visit China later this year.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.

Glossary [only for reference]

conclusion [countable]: formal, the end or final part of something [= end
framework [usually singular]: a set of ideas, rules, or beliefs from which something is developed, or on which decisions are based
secure [transitive]: to get or achieve something that will be permanent, especially after a lot of effort:
memorandum [countable]: formal, a short official note to another person in the same company or organization
specifics [plural]: particular details
groundwork [uncountable]: something that has to happen before an activity or plan can be successful
trade imbalance: the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a certain period of time. It is the relationship between a nation's imports and exports.
private saving: saving by households and businesses. Private saving is equal to personal saving plus after-tax corporate profits minus dividends paid.
domestic demand: total purchases of goods and services, regardless of origin, by consumers, businesses, and governments during a given period. Domestic demand equals gross domestic product minus net exports.
move: [intransitive and transitive] to make progress in a particular way or at a particular rate
seeds of something: something that makes a new situation start to grow and develop
fiscal deficit: the amount by which the federal government's total outlays exceed its total revenues in a given period, typically a fiscal year.
resilient: strong and not easily damaged by being pulled, pressed etc
nuclear weapon states (NWS): a legal term used in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to refer to nations that had detonated a nuclear device prior to 1967. The nuclear-weapon states (NWS) are the five states—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States—officially recognized as possessing nuclear weapons by the NPT.