Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the joint meeting of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue on Tuesday, in Washington. Alex Brandon / AP

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that China and the United States have built trust and have a "deeper understanding" of the viewpoints of the other through the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED).

"I do think we have a deeper understanding of the viewpoint of the other. I think we have had such an open dialogue on every issue that we have built trust, because we're not keeping any issue under the table or off the agenda," the top US envoy said at a news conference held after the conclusion of the third-round of S&ED in Washington.

She said that the purpose of any dialogue is to enhance mutual understanding and mutual trust in the other.

"I think we've made quite a bit of progress in the last three dialogues. This is a work in progress," she said.

"I think that for both of our nations, with such different histories, cultures, experiences, development models, political systems, it is important that we continue intensive consultations.

"And as both of us have said, we do not expect to find agreement on every issue. We know that we approach some of these sensitive matters from a very different perspective than our Chinese counterparts.

"We are talking about the hard issues, and we're developing these habits of cooperation across our government."

"In addition, this is not just a task for governments. We are placing great emphasis on our people-to-people, our business-to-business contacts and experiences."

Secretary of Treasury Department Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that Chinese investments in the US are going to expand in the future.

"I am very confident that if you look over the next several years, you're going to see Chinese investment in the US continue to expand very, very rapidly."

Geithner reiterated that the US welcomes Chinese investment in the US and stressed that it will be 'all good' for both nations.

"That's (the Chinese investments in the US) driven by the desire of Chinese companies to have more access to US technology and to try to expand their opportunities in this market. And, again, we welcome that," Geithner said.

Xinhua