China and the United States wound up the two-day 2nd China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) Tuesday, achieving consensus and even forging agreements in a number of areas of crucial significance for both sides as well as regional stability.

It is obviously of the utmost importance the two sides tread the path of dialogue to build cooperation and mutual benefit, given the complicated but important nature of the bilateral relations.

High-level dialogue

Leaders have acknowledged the vitality of the dialogue mechanism consisting of two tracks: economic and strategic, which was initiated last year by President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama.

Hu said when with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that he hoped the S&ED would play a greater role in boosting bilateral relations.

"I hope the four special representatives and both teams will seriously implement the achievements, draw on their experiences, and strengthen the building of the mechanism so it can play a greater role," Hu said, referring to the leaders and ministers chairing the dialogue.

Both Clinton and Geithner were special representatives of President Obama. They were joined by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, both special representatives of President Hu.

They achieved consensus on bilateral relations, facilitating global economic recovery, anti-protectionism in international trade, pushing forward financial reforms and important international affairs.

The two dialogue partners also signed agreements covering trade, environment, energy and disease control at or on the sidelines of the S&ED, underscoring the value of the dialogue platform.

"The two teams worked hard to realize the vision" between Obama and Hu and that the two sides deepened cooperation in the second round of talks with the largest-ever delegation, Clinton said.

Clinton told Hu when they met she appreciated the "substantial speech" he made at the opening session of the dialogues.

President Obama once even drew on traditional Chinese wisdom of Mencius, a master of the Confucius school of teaching that has helped shape Chinese society, to illustrate the value of the high-level dialogue platform.

"A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time," Obama said at the opening of the 1st S&ED last year, quoting Mencius to compare the bilateral exchanges to blazing a path through the mountains.