CHINA-US: CHINA-US SED & HIGH LEVEL CONSULTATION ON CULTURAL EXCHANGES
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China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on June 19, 2015, announced that the seventh China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) and the sixth China-US High-level Consultation on People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges will both be held in Washington on June 23 and 24, 2015. At the dialogue, Vice-Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, as President Xi Jinping's special representatives, will meet with Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama's special representatives. Zheng Zeguang, China's Assistant Foreign Minister, said a special meeting regarding climate, a round-table gathering of entrepreneurs, and a special meeting on protecting the oceans are on the Strategic and Economic Dialogue agenda. He added that the strategic discussions will "deepen pragmatic cooperation and properly tackle divergences".
Separately, senior officials and experts who participated in the Lanting Forum June 19, 2015, by the Foreign Ministry's Public Diplomacy Office, said that climate change, entrepreneurship, sea protection and expanded exchanges of talent are likely to be among the highlighted points.
China's Vice Minister of Finance, Zhu Guangyao, said the economic discussions will touch upon economic policies, trade and investment, and the stability and reform of the financial market. He disclosed that "Macro-policies coordination will be prioritized" this time. He added that the core mission of the economic dialogue is to "set to tone for the September China-US leaders meeting."
Liu Limin, China's Vice Minister of Education, said that China will invite 100 US youth leaders to visit and study in China in the coming five years, 1000 outstanding students from either side will be exchanged to leading colleges on the other side, and 10,000 Chinese students will be sent by China to study in the US.
Ruan Zongze, Vice President of the China Institute of International Studies, noted that both sides will have long lists of talking points for the dialogue this year, showing "the strong desire of both to tackle problems and manage emerging issues".
Yuan Peng, Vice President of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, which is affiliated to the Ministry of State Security, observed that "all the institutionalized bilateral interactions are undertaken with high-frequency and great depth", such as Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Fan Changlong's US visit this month. He called for further improving high-level interaction and crisis management and said even "about those areas in which cooperation cannot now be achieved, we can at least communicate first".
The events come three months ahead of President Xi Jinping's expected first state visit to the US in September.
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