WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- The U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue will help underpin bilateral relations across a broad array of fronts, a U.S. scholar says.
Speaking to China's official Xinhua news agency prior to Monday's start of the first such dialogue in Washington, Drew Thompson, director of China Studies at the Nixon Center, said it is important to have such annual events that allow senior leaders from both sides to meet.
He said a multi-agency meeting such as the dialogue set to begin Monday will help create the kind of alignment not currently possible between the two bureaucracies.
"With its long-term, strategic outlook, the S&ED will focus on sustaining dialogue on long-range issues and coordinating existing bilateral dialogues, rather than focusing on concrete outcomes and firm, clearly defined short-term objectives," Thompson told Xinhua. "This holistic, long-term approach to manage the relationship comes more naturally to the Chinese side, but something the U.S. side, with its different political system, will learn to adjust to."
Thompson said keeping their relationship "on an even keel is vitally important for both countries and will be particularly tricky in the midst of a global financial crisis."
