China, US agree to work together on climate and economy
Updated
The United States and China have wrapped up the first round of their annual strategic and economic dialogue with a memorandum of understanding promising greater cooperation in addressing economic challenges and climate change.
The two nations - the world's largest carbon emitters - promised more cooperation on the environment and will set up a joint committee in the lead-up to climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Wang Qishan, China's Vice Premier; Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary
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LAM: The meeting of senior officials was held almost entirely behind closed doors, with the economy a major talking point.
China's central bank chief said it is watching the US for signs of an economic recovery, before deciding whether to end emergency stimulous spending measures.
China's Vice Premier, Wang Qishan said the stimulus packages of both countries would surely promote world economic growth.
WANG: We will work to increase our imports from the United States. We hope the US will relax its controls and restrictions on exports to China of its high tech technologies. We should actively advance the negotiation on IT. We hope the US will treat fairly Chinese enterprises making investments in the US and ensure the safety of Chinese assets in the United States. Our two countries should also use the opportunities presented by current industrial restructuring, strengthen our cooperation in such areas as new energy, biotechnology and foster new growth areas.
LAM: US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, said the annual talks give a new forum for economic co-operation.
GEITNER: The United States and China will not always agree on economic issues, but this dialogue, this Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) provides a framework for us to narrow our differences, to reinforce our common interests, both bilaterally and in setting the multilateral economic and financial agenda. President Obama and President Hu have expressed a commitment to place the S&ED at the centre of our bilateral relationship and we are making a lot of progress in the economic track, in focusing on the critical, strategic economic issues between our two countries in the face of the international financial system. And we are very hopeful that we are going to be able to use this framework to make concrete progress on these objectives along the way.
