Senior US officials have hailed great changes taking place in China and vowed to keep the momentum of growing close cooperation with China when governments of the two countries began Monday the first round of strategic and economic dialogue in Washington D.C..

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan (6th L, Front), State Councilor Dai Bingguo (5th L, Front), US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (5th R, Front), US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (4th R, Front) and other officials pose for a group photograph before the opening ceremony of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Washington, the United States, July 27, 2009. The China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), the first of its kind between the world's biggest developing country and biggest developed country, opened in Washington on Monday. [Zhang Yan/Xinhua]

In their joint by-line article published on the Wall Street Journal on Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said "In 1979, China was still emerging from the ruins of the Cultural Revolution and its gross domestic product stood at a mere 176 billion US dollars, a fraction of the US total of 2.5 trillion dollars.

"Even travel and communication between our two great nations presented a challenge: A few unreliable telephone lines and no direct flight connected us.

"Today China's GDP tops 4 trillion dollars, thousands of emails and cellphone calls cross the Pacific Ocean daily, and by next year there will be 249 direct flights per week between the US and China.  

"To keep up with these changes, we need to update our official ties with Beijing," the article said.

"Few global problems can be solved by the US or China alone. And few can be solved without the US and China together. The strength of the global economy, the health of the global environment, the stability of fragile states, and the solution to non-proliferation challenges turn in large measure on cooperation between the US and China," the article said of the importance of China-US cooperation.

"While our two-day dialogue will break new ground in combining discussions of both economic and foreign polices, we will be building on the efforts of the past seven US administrations, and on the existing tapestry of government-to-government exchanges and cooperation in several dozen different areas," the article said.

"Having these strategic-level discussions with our Chinese counterparts will help build the trust and relationships to tackle the most vexing global challenges of today -- and of the coming generation. The Chinese have a wise aphorism: "When you are in a common boat, you need to cross the river peacefully together.

"Today, we will join our Chinese counterparts in grabbing an oar and starting to row," the article said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)