Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2nd L) and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (L) in Beijing, capital of China, May 4, 2012. [Xinhua]

The United Sates hopes that China can not only deliver economic prosperity for its large population but also play a key role in world affairs, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at a news conference following the conclusion of the two-day China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing on Friday.

During the two-day dialogue, Clinton and other US officials encouraged America's second-largest trading partner to press ahead with economic reforms.

"The United States welcomes a strong, prosperous and successful China," Clinton said, adding that a positive, cooperative and comprehensive relationship is what the United States is committed to.

"Our countries and peoples can gain far more from cooperation than competition," she said.

She underscored the importance of the annual S&ED, which concluded with several positive bilateral agreements.

"We use [the S&ED] to maximize mutual understanding and areas of cooperation…We need this kind of open, regular mechanism for strengthening our partnership and managing those areas where there are attention and differences," she said of the annual event, which first began in April 2009.

High on the agenda were issues focusing on market openness, trade expansion and protection of IPR. President Obama has placed a high priority on expanding US exports, particularly to China's fast growing market.

Last year, the US exported US$130 billion in goods and services to China, supporting well over 600,000 jobs at home. Since 2008, the year before President Obama took office, China's trade surplus, as a share of its GDP, has fallen from 8 percent to less than 3 percent.

Clinton urged both sides to abandon the legacy of imperialism and the Cold War, saying neither side can afford to repeat looking at the world through old lenses. Zero-sum thinking, she said, will lead to negative-sum results.

The US is trying to establish a resilient relationship with China without entering into what she termed as "unhealthy competition, rivalry or conflicts," she said.