U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson arrived in Beijing on Monday night for the third China-U.S. Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

The third SED will be co-chaired by special representative of the head of state of the countries, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and Paulson.

Delegations sent by the two governments to the SED III are of a very high-level.

The U.S. side will include nine cabinet-level officials including Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Ambassador Clark Randt, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt, Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab, Administrator of Environmental Protection Agency Stephen Johnson, Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy & Agricultural Affairs Reuben Jeffery III, and the Chairman and President of Export-Import Bank James Lambright.

For the Chinese side, Vice Premier Wu will lead a delegation comprising many ministers.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will also meet with the U.S. delegation members, respectively.

Paulson said on last Wednesday that the SED has made substantial progress in building stronger relationship and establishing constructive channels of communication between the United States and China.

"These innovations have helped keep the U.S.-China economic relationship on an even keel and helped us manage difficult issues, even in times of tension," Paulson said in a speech at the Asia Society.

"We look forward to working with the Chinese leadership team to ensure that the SED process continues to be an effective mechanism for promoting our shared interests and responsibilities," said Paulson in the speech.

The dialogue was launched by U.S. President George W. Bush and his Chinese counterpart President Hu in September 2006, serving as a platform to discuss long-term, strategic and comprehensive issues in the bilateral trade relationship.

The dialogue, themed "Seizing Opportunities of Economic Globalization and Dealing with Challenges of Economic Globalization", will focus on six topics: China and the United States working together to seize the benefits and meet the challenges of globalization; strengthening the integrity of trade; balanced economic development; managing the economic impact of energy choices; balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability; and advancing bilateral investment.

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren said on Sunday these topics are fairly balanced to reflect the concerns of both sides and also accord with the goals of the dialogue to exchange views on macro, strategic and long-term issues.

He said the SED is of great significance to enhance strategic mutual trust between the two governments, thus ensuring constant progress of the constructive and cooperative relations between China and the United States.

China-U.S. bilateral trade volume has surged from less than 2.5 billion U.S. dollars when diplomatic relations were established in the late 1970s to 262.68 billion U.S. dollars in 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)