By Xinhua,
Washington : US President George W. Bush has applauded the outcome of the fourth China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and said the talks demonstrated that both the countries share common interests on a number of issues.
Bush met Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in the White House Wednesday following the SED, which concluded earlier in the day in Annapolis, Maryland.
Bush said the 10-year energy and environment cooperation framework signed after the SED talks demonstrated that China and the US have broad shared interests in the area and that both sides are serious on the issue of environmental protection.
He noted that the two nations need to identify long-term goals within the framework and share know-how of environmental protection technology.
Bush said he was also glad about the agreement reached at the SED to launch negotiations on bilateral investment protection accord between the two nations and hoped to see positive results from the negotiations very soon.
The president made it clear that trade protectionism is contrary to the interests of both China and the US and both sides should stick to open and fair principles on trade issue.
Bush noted that a strong and powerful US-China relationship accords with the national interests of both countries and he hoped bilateral relations move forward continuously.
Wang said China highly appreciated Bush’s long-time and important contributions to the development of constructive and cooperative relationship between the two nations.
He pointed out that the SED mechanism was jointly initiated by Bush and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and has received attention and support from both presidents.
Wang said China was willing to make joint efforts with the US to facilitate the consensus reached by the two presidents in 2006 and to advance the SED process to a more fruitful future.
On the Olympics Games, Bush said: “The Beijing Olympics was a great event that every Chinese is proud of and he is looking forward to attending the Olympics and sharing the pride with the Chinese people.”
Wang strongly welcomed Bush’s attendance at the Beijing Olympics.