Senior U.S. official says cooperation with China never so important

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The cooperation between the United States and China has never been so important as it is now, and the just-concluded U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) has provided a platform to reinforce common interests, a senior U.S. official has said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"We have broadened the dialogue ... and the S&ED is a new approach towards the U.S.-and-China relations," David Loevinger, Treasury executive secretary and senior coordinator for China Affairs and the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, told Xinhua on Tuesday night.

"There was a common understanding that U.S.-China cooperation and engagement on economic issues have never been so important because of the challenges that we face in the global economy and global financial market right now," said Loevinger.

He said he was struck by the fact that both sides have so much in common in the discussion.

"The U.S. and China have a very similar outlook on the global economy and adopted very similar policy response," said Loevinger, once a Treasury Department's Financial Attache in China. "Both U.S. and China act very quickly and aggressively on global economic crisis."

"The monetary and fiscal stimulus in both countries was among the most aggressive and most far-reaching of any major economy," he also noted.

However, during the dialogue, China also expressed its concern over the security of its heavy investment. So far, China has invested more than 1.5 trillion dollars in the United States government-issued securities.

"We are deeply concerned about the security of our financial assets in the United States," Zhu Guangyao, China's assistant finance minister, told Xinhua.

Wang Qishan, Chinese vice premier and co-chair of the S&ED, also urged the United States to protect China's assets during the dialogue.

Loevinger indicated that the United States understands China's concern and explained to the Chinese side the U.S. monetary and fiscal policies during the two-day dialogue, which ended on Tuesday.

"(Federal Reserve) Chairman Bernanke talked about the Federal Reserve's approach to U.S. monetary policy," Loevinger said, referring to an op-ed Bernanke published last week in the Wall Street Journal, in which he talked about tightening monetary policy to prevent the emergence of an inflation once economic recovery is assured.

"Bernanke discussed many of these issues with China," he added.

by Xinhua writer Liu Hong