BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- China and the United States started their first strategic dialogue in Beijing Monday morning, aiming to facilitate bilateral relations.

   The closed-door dialogue, the first senior level meeting of its kind between the two countries, was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who arrived in Beijing Sunday.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo (R) and US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick shake hands before the dialogue. (Xinhua)

   Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Zoellick on Sunday, and they exchanged views on Sino-US relations and international issues of common concern, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry.

   During his stopover in Hong Kong on Saturday, Zoellick said he would discuss "strategic issues of common interest" like foreign policy and economics with senior Chinese officials in Beijing.

    The dialogue came as a result of the consensus reached between Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President George W. Bush during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Chile last year. The dialogue may take place twice a year.

   The dialogue is a new height in Sino-US relations, following recent frequent high-level visits and exchanges between the two countries.

   The two nations tend to prefer negotiations to confrontations in tackling their conflicts and differences.

   China and the United States have agreed to continue their consultations to seek solution to  the textile trade disputes as the United States imposed limit on Chinese clothing on accusation of a surge of imports.

   The annual session of the Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) was held on July 11 in Beijing. The two sides agreed to set up cooperation mechanisms on cross border prosecutions for intellectual property rights (IPR) violations and on the protection of movie copy rights.

   Zoellick said the discussions with Chinese officials would enable the two countries "to get a better sense of one  another's interests: where there are points of mutuality--and I believe there are many; how to work cooperatively; but also, where we have differences, how best to try to manage them."

   Zoellick is another important member of the Bush administration to visit China within merely a month, following US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,Trade Representative Rob
Portman, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

    Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan visited the United States last week, to discuss the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue and make preparations for Chinese President Hu Jintao's US visit in September.

    The constructive relationship of cooperation between China and the United States will continue to grow  through increasing dialogue, building mutual trust, promoting cooperation and handling differences properly, said Tang in a meeting with Rice last Wednesday.

   The United States attaches importance to high-level exchanges and dialogue between the two countries, which is helpful for the two nations to have an in-depth exchange of views on major world and regional issues, Rice said.

   The dialogue coincides with the fourth round of six-party talks on Korean Peninsula nuclear issue now under way in Beijing, which is one of the issues both countries cooperate effectively. 

   The new round of six-party talks entered an unprecedented seventh day on Monday in Beijing, and negotiators are working on the first ever joint statement of the talks. Enditem