A trio of senior U.S. officials arrived Wednesday?in?China's eastern city of Hangzhou for trade talks aimed at easing trade disputes and laying the groundwork for next month's presidential summit in Beijing.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will participate in the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) which will officially open Thursday morning. The Chinese side will be led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

As this year's JCCT comes a few weeks ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's first China visit scheduled for mid-November, it was widely seen as part of preparations for Obama's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Locke said he expected the upcoming JCCT talks would pave the way for significant improvements and progress in the trade relations between the two countries when President Obama will visit China next month.

China's status as a market economy will be discussed at the JCCT talks, according to China's Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian.

The U.S. commerce chief also confirmed Wednesday that China's market economy status will be reviewed and explored at the talks.

China and the United States are each other's second largest trading partners, with bilateral trade hitting 211.87 billion U.S. dollars from January to September in 2009, according to China's Customs.

Some trade frictions between the two countries are also expected to be addressed at the JCCT talks.

"I'm looking forward to addressing many issues that are critical to the positive economic relationship the United States and China enjoy," Locke said Wednesday.

Under the JCCT, there are more than 10 working groups which deal with specific trade issues such as clean energy, trade, investment, intellectual property rights and agriculture.

The JCCT began in 1983 as a platform for the two countries to handle trade and address issues of mutual concern.