The US and China have pledged to deepen their cooperation in military and economic matters and intensify their deliberations on a range of global and regional issues including counter-terrorism, climate change and South Asia.

Setting aside their differences on key issues such as Tibet, human rights and arms sales to Taiwan, leaders of the two countries at the end of the two-day Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) agreed that the military leaders of the two countries would meet regularly under the newly created “Strategic Security Dialogue.”

In a joint statement, the US and China acknowledged that the two sides share a wide range of common interests with a shared goal of maintaining peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, and decided to establish a US-China consultation on the Asia-Pacific.

Before the next round of the S&ED, the two countries decided to hold a new round of sub-dialogues on: policy planning, Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Central Asia, and to enhance bilateral coordination and cooperation on regional and international issues.

Later addressing a joint news conference with the Treasury Secretary, Mr Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, said the United States and China have made quite a bit of progress in the last three dialogues.

“This is a work in progress. I think that for both of our nations, with such different histories, cultures, experiences, development models, political systems, it is important that we continue intensive consultations,” she said, adding that the two countries now have a deeper understanding of each other’s views.

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