WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called Monday for far-reaching cooperation with China, saying the nations can help the world come out of economic crisis.
The leading members of President Barack Obama's cabinet made the joint call ahead of two days of top-level dialogue with China starting Monday on charting the future course of relations.
"Simply put, few global problems can be solved by the US or China alone. And few can be solved without the US and China together," Geithner and Clinton wrote.
The two argued that measures to create and save jobs by the largest developed and developing economies had helped the world at large weather its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
"The success of the world?s major economies in blunting the force of the global recession and setting the stage for recovery is due in substantial measure to the bold steps our two nations have taken," they said.
"As we move toward recovery, we must take additional steps to lay the foundation for balanced and sustainable growth in the years to come."
Clinton and Geithner renewed US calls for China to open up its financial sector and to ween itself off its dependence on exports by spurring domestic demand in the world's most populous nation.
"Raising personal incomes and strengthening the social safety net to address the reasons why Chinese feel compelled to save so much would provide a powerful boost to Chinese domestic demand and global growth," they said.
Clinton and Geithner called for progress with China on global warming. The United States and China are the world's top carbon emitters and have been at loggerheads in the countdown to a December meeting in Copenhagen aimed at drafting a new global climate treaty.
The top US diplomat and financial chief said they hoped for further cooperation with China on a range of global issues ranging from bringing stability to Afghanitan and Pakistan to assisting Africa to reining in nuclear-armed North Korea.
Clinton and Geithner made no direct reference to China's human rights record, a longstanding source of US concern in its largest creditor, but said the two nations "must be frank about our differences."
