[Title] Remarks by Vice Premier Wang Qishan at the Opening Session of the Economic Dialogue of The Fourth Round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues

Secretary Geithner,

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the economic dialogue of the fourth round of China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogues. Let us now get started.

The visionary and inspiring remarks of President Hu and President Obama at the joint opening session have charted the course for the growth of China-US relations in the time to come. During this round of economic dialogue, we should earnestly implement the important agreement reached between the two Presidents and conduct candid dialogue and enhance cooperation on the strategic issues in our economic relations in order to inject strong impetus to the efforts of developing a new type of relationship between China and the United States as two major countries.

At present, the world economic recovery remains sluggish and the situation is grim and complex. As a Chinese saying goes, "Each household has its unique difficulties." The European debt crisis keeps coming back, growth is slowing down in emerging economies and commodity prices are experiencing drastic volatility. Under such circumstances, China and the United States have to, first and foremost, manage our own affairs well. We are glad to see the positive signs of recovery in the US economy and the steady and fairly fast growth of the Chinese economy. Our two sides need to assess the situation in a level-headed way. We must continue to enhance coordination of macro-economic policies, work together to meet global challenges, and ensure economic growth and job creation in both our countries so as to contribute to a strong and sustainable recovery of the world economy.

The Chinese and American economies are interdependent and highly complementary, and there are broad common interests between us. Our two countries differ in national conditions and development stage and there exists a big gap between us in terms of both soft and hard power, but we both face the arduous task of shifting growth pattern and adjusting economic structure. China is implementing the 12th Five-Year Plan. Under the guidance of the scientific outlook on development, we are endeavoring to strike the right balance between the speed of growth and the structure, quality and efficiency of the economy. The United States, on its part, is speeding up structural reform and implementing the National Export Initiative and the SelectUSA Initiative. Our two countries should make the most of the platform provided by the economic dialogue to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, finance, tourism, science and technology, infrastructure and clean energy and facilitate the all-round development of our cooperation at the local, business and other levels.

Both China and the United States are important members of G20. We should work with other G20 members to enhance coordination and build consensus in order to ensure the success of the G20 Summit in Los Cabos. We look forward to closer coordination and collaboration with the United States within the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO and other multilateral frameworks to push forward global economic governance reform and the reform of international economic rules and standards, and jointly resist trade protectionism.

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past three years, the economic dialogue has served as an important platform for China and the United States to enhance macro and strategic consultation and advance practical cooperation in the economic field. It has played an irreplaceable role in managing differences, deepening cooperation and promoting sound growth of our economic relations. Both Presidents have spoken highly of this mechanism.

Since our last round of dialogue, China has made positive progress in combating counterfeiting, protecting IPR, promoting software legalization and expanding imports. The United States has also made a lot of efforts in facilitating Chinese companies' investment in the United States and visa applications. We hope that the US side will take concrete steps to relax control on hi-tech exports to China, expand infrastructure cooperation, increase financial market access and avoid politicizing economic issues. The two sides should fully accommodate each other's concerns and work for more win-win outcomes to the benefit of our two peoples.

Both China and the United States have important domestic political agendas this year. To ensure the success of this round of dialogue is thus of special significance. We hope that the two sides will act in a constructive and cooperative spirit, and take this dialogue as an opportunity to enhance exchanges and mutual understanding and jointly promote the sustained and sound growth of China-US economic relations.

Thank you.