China, US hold Second Strategic Security Dialogue

The second China-U.S. Strategic Security Dialogue, under the strategic framework of the fourth China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue, was held in Beijing on Wednesday, according to a press release issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns co-chaired the dialogue, said the release, which noted that the two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on issues of strategic and comprehensive security, deepening mutual understanding.

The two sides agreed to continue to develop the Strategic Security Dialogue mechanism, and let it play a greater role in enhancing bilateral strategic mutual trust.

Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army; Chinese Ambassador to the United States Zhang Yesui; U.S. Acting Under-secretary of Defense James Miller; and U.S. Commander-in-chief of Pacific Command Samuel J. Locklear attended the event.

Amid a flurry of regional hotspot issues in the Asia-Pacific region, the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue is an opportunity for the world's sole superpower and a major rising power to learn how to cooperate with each other on overlapping security interests, China Daily reported.

"Against the background of regional hot issues, how Beijing and Washington will coordinate mutual stances has attracted particular attention," said Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies.

Jin Canrong, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said with China's rapid growth and the eastward shift of the strategic focus of the US, deeper strategic trust has been a key precondition for a healthy partnership between the two world powers.

"We noticed that this round of dialogue has put more attention on the small-scale talks (which are more secretive and usually touch upon sensitive issues). Besides, there will be a second round of strategic security talks. Such an arrangement reflects the common will of both sides to make the dialogue a more in-depth and productive one," Jin said.

Under the framework of the S&ED, the first Asia-Pacific strategic security talks, which brought together diplomatic and military personnel from both sides, were launched last year as part of the broader dialogue mechanism.

"This kind of security dialogue remains particularly important, especially at a time when regional security tensions have deteriorated following Pyongyang's failed rocket launch and the escalated confrontation between China and the Philippines on China's Huangyan Island," Qu said.

"It is expected that China and the US ... can find the way for a major rising country to get along with a holding power," Xinhua said on Wednesday.

The talks, which will take place ahead of both the US presidential elections and China's upcoming leadership transition, have further attracted attention from the international community, said Li Xiangyang, director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The US is expected to continue to urge China to accelerate reforms of its State-owned financial sector and the exchange rate of its currency, said Song Hongru, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the CASS.

"(But) considering the basic balanced exchange rate level the yuan has approached and China's decision to allow bigger daily fluctuations, the yuan's exchange rate issue is not expected to dominate this year's talks," Song said.

IPR protection is also expected one of the main topics of the Beijing dialogue, according to Zhang Yansheng, director of Institute for International Economics Studies under National Development and Reform Commission.

The US Trade Representative's annual Special 301 report — which designates the world's worst offenders of US intellectual property rights in Washington's eyes — on Monday once again listed China and Russia among the most serious offenders.

However, Beijing has long said it expects the US to take more practical measures and suspend its long-established restrictions on high-tech exports to China, reduce prejudices on China's investment and handle bilateral trade frictions in a more cautious manner.