The US Commerce Department said Vice-Premier Wang Qishan will visit Washington on 18 and 19 December for the annual Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the main US-China forum to discuss trade policies.
"These discussions come at an important time and are an opportunity to set the future trajectory of US-China economic relations. Creating a healthy and balanced trade relationship with China is important to the United States," Rebecca Blank, acting US commerce secretary said.
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the US is focused on delivering meaningful results on issues that include intellectual property rights and other key concerns.
The US also plans to address "a range of market access issues" affecting exports of its meat, poultry and horticultural products, according to US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
These concerns have existed between the two big economies for years, and there is a trend of increasing bilateral friction in the economic field, said Xiao Lian, an expert on economic studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, citing the recent difficulties Chinese companies have met when trying to invest in the US, such as Huawei and Sany.
Only dialogue and top-level trade talks based on the principle of mutual understanding will help resolve the differences, he added.
Cooperation is the only way forward because both countries need the other, according to Chen Baosen, a senior expert on China-US trade and economic studies also at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
On Tuesday, 11 December, Wang Qishan met with Lael Brainard, US undersecretary of the treasury for international affairs in Beijing. The two exchanged views on bilateral economic relations and the global economy, Xinhua reported.
Some senior US lawmakers sent letters to US senior officials last month, stating concerns that China "continues to move away from market-based reforms, and is more deeply embracing an economic model dominated by state-owned enterprises, World Trade Organization-inconsistent subsidies, and economic protectionism".
Last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said censure of China over trade issues cannot solve the problems in the US.
"We hope both countries can make the best of platforms like the China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, deepen bilateral cooperation, resolve contradictions and boost the healthy and stable development of bilateral trade relations on a mutually beneficial basis," he said.
Both the recently concluded 18th Party Congress and a recent inspection tour by Xi Jinping, the new general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, in Guangdong province highlighted China’s determination to push forward the market economy and continuous reform, Mr Lian said.
