The China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) was established by Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barrack Obama in April 2009, and represents the highest-level bilateral forum to discuss a broad range of issues between the two countries. The dialogue is an essential step in advancing a positive, constructive, and comprehensive relationship between the sides.

The first round of S&ED was held in Washington on July 27-28, 2009. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, special representatives of President Hu Jintao, together with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, special representatives of President Barack Obama, co-chaired the two-day discussions. Chinese President Hu sent a congratulatory message read by Wang Qishan. Centering on the theme of "building confidence to restore economic growth and strengthen China-U.S. economic cooperation," the two sides discussed the agendas involving bilateral relations, regional and global issues.

The second round of S&ED was held in Beijing on May 24-25, 2010. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, special representatives of President Hu Jintao, together with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, special representatives of President Barack Obama, co-chaired the two-day discussions. Centering on the theme of ensuring sustainable development, mutual beneficial and win-win economic and cooperative partnership, the two sides discussed the agendas of energy security, climate change, UN peacekeeping, anti-terrorism and other issues.

The third round of S&ED was held in Washington on May 9 2011. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, special representatives of President Hu Jintao, together with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, special representatives of President Barack Obama, co-chaired the discussions. For the first time since the S&ED was held, military delegates of the both sides were invited to attend the discussions. Centering on the theme of building a comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership, the two sides discussed the agenda of promoting trade and investment, promoting financial system reform and cooperation, promoting structural adjustment and development mode, and promoting sustainable and balanced economic development. The agendas also involved global economic situation and challenges, European debt crisis, Middle East and North African situation, and Japanese natural disasters.

The fourth round of S&ED was held in Beijing on May 3-4, 2012. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, special representatives of President Hu Jintao, together with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, special representatives of President Barack Obama, co-chaired two-day discussions. The dialogue centered on three major economic and trade issues: to promote strong, sustainable and balanced growth, to expand trade and investment opportunities, and to promote financial market stability and reform.

The fifth round of S&ED is scheduled to be held in Washington on July 8-12, 2013. This was announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a news briefing on April 13, 2013 after he met with Chinese leaders during his first Beijing trip since taking office in February.