Lew, Kerry heading to Asia for high-level meetings

Top Obama administration officials are heading to South Korea and China for upcoming high-level economic and strategic meetings. 

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry will participate in the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) in Beijing for three days starting Sunday, with meetings expected to focus on the bilateral, regional and global relationship between the two countries. 

{mosads}Lew and Kerry will meet with their Chinese co-chairmen, Vice Premier Wang Yang and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, along with a U.S. delegation and their Chinese colleagues. 

“The S&ED is one of the instruments that’s helped us put a floor under the U.S.-China relationship capable of absorbing stress, but also serving as a foundation for practical progress,” said Danny Russel, assistant aecretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs during a press conference.

Russel said the meeting “serves as a kind of action forcer in terms — or a deadline to galvanize our bureaucracies to reach agreement on things that they’ve been discussing.”

“It’s helped to germinate some new areas of collaboration and to tee up accomplishments that can be brought across the finish line when our two presidents meet,” he said. 

Russel credited the regular meetings for U.S.-China cooperation on climate change as well as the nuclear agreement with Iran, and is an element behind the toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea.

“It’s helped us build a improved and stable military-to-military relationship with China, led to cooperation in fighting infectious diseases and pandemics like Ebola, in expanding Chinese support for peacekeeping and for our cooperation in Afghanistan and other global hotspots,” he added.

The meetings also have given the U.S. and China a venue for discussing difficult issues such as concerns with Chinese behavior in the South China Sea, restrictions on human rights and cybersecurity.

Before Bejing, Lew will stop in Seoul for meetings starting on Thursday. 

In Seoul, Lew will meet with his Korean counterparts, including Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, to discuss bilateral economic relations, ways to boost global economic growth and addressing North Korea’s destabilizing behavior.

Lew also will meet with leaders from the business community.