Chinese President Hu Jintao said here on Monday that both China and the United States should respect the right of each and every country to independently choose its development path.

"We should recognize differences in countries' cultural traditions, social systems, values and development concepts, and encourage different civilizations and development models to learn from and reinforce one another so as to achieve common development," said Hu.

"It is not advisable to use one model to measure the diverse and colorful world we live in," Hu said while addressing the opening session of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

About 50 representatives from more than 40 departments of both countries participated in the second round of the China-U.S. dialogue, held in the Great Hall of the People.

The first round of the dialogue was held in Washington in July last year.