The Foreign Ministry announced that the eighth Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the seventh China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange will both be held on Monday and Tuesday.

At the S&ED, State Councilor Yang and Kerry will co-chair the strategic part of the dialogue, while Vice-Premier Wang Yang and US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will co-chair the economic part.

Zheng said the strategic dialogue will cover topics including building up the new type of relations for major nations, managing differences and sensitive issues, and the two countries' interaction in the Asia-Pacific.

A special conference on climate change will be held on the sidelines of the talks.

Qin Yaqing, president of China Foreign Affairs University, said that in the dialogue, China and the US should consider how to convert their differences into areas of cooperation.

"We can even consider whether we can turn the South China Sea into a point of cooperation," he said.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said, "China-US relations have come to a new crossroads," citing the debate on China policy in the US presidential campaign, the unknown fate of the S&ED under the next US administration, and US involvement in the South China Sea.

"That has made this round of S&ED more eye-catching," he said.

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