Area 1: Macroeconomic Policy Exchanges and the Financial Services Sector
The U.S. and China reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work closely together to achieve sustained growth, maintain price stability, and ensure the smoothness and orderliness of the financial systems of both sides, and agreed to to continue their cooperation in ***sharing information*** on financial services of interest to both sides and to further consider ways to ***maintain international financial stability through enhanced cooperation. Further, the U.S. and China have taken the following actions and made the following commitments:
- The U.S. side released an assessment of the causes of the current turmoil in the global financial markets, as well as recommendations to strengthen the operations, procedures, and planning of financial services firms and regulators, and is scheduled to release later this year the results of its assessment of the implementation of the recommendations and recommendations regarding the need for further measures.
- China will complete its assessment of foreign equity participation in China's securities, futures and fund management companies by December 31, 2008, and will make policy recommendations on adjusting foreign equity participation in China's securities market based on the results of the assessment.
- The U.S. side proposed new regulations under the revised International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Code of Conduct for Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) to encourage CRAs to strengthen their assessment procedures to ensure the integrity of the rating process, the fair treatment of investors and issuers, and the protection of confidential information involved in the assessment.
- After the implementation of the new regulations for U.S. credit rating agencies, the relevant U.S. credit rating agencies must fully comply with the requirements of the new regulations, and the Chinese side will allow the existing joint venture credit rating agencies to apply for the qualification of carrying out securities credit ratings without reducing the proportion of the existing foreign equity ownership. The Chinese side will approve the application in accordance with the relevant prudential regulations.
-The U.S. side continues to commit to opening up its financial markets, granting national treatment to Chinese-funded commercial banks, and expeditiously processing applications by Chinese-funded banks to open branches in the U.S. without undue delay in accordance with relevant prudential regulations and procedures.
- The Chinese side agreed to conduct a pilot program to allow non-depository foreign financial institutions to provide consumer financial services to retail consumers in the pilot areas, and agreed to reduce the lock-up period for investment principal to three months for QFIIs such as foreign insurance institutions, government and monetary authorities, ****same funds, pension funds, charitable and endowment funds, as well as for open-end China funds initiated and established by QFIIs; and to In accordance with the relevant prudential supervision principles, allow qualified foreign companies to list on the Chinese stock exchange through the issuance of shares or depository receipts; and allow qualified foreign corporate banks to issue RMB subordinated bonds.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will explore ways to further collaborate with China on rural insurance and will consider providing training to Chinese insurance officials and industry representatives seeking to develop policies in China for crop damage insurance, including natural disasters.
- During China's public comment period on its proposed Measures for the Administration of Insurance Company Equity Interests, the Chinese and U.S. sides had positive discussions on this issue, particularly on the U.S. side's concern that a foreign insurance company may invest in a new or existing domestic insurance company, regardless of whether it has already invested in the same type of insurance industry in China, and that the Chinese side will give full consideration to the comments submitted in a timely manner by all parties, and will continue to work with the U.S. on this matter as appropriate. The Chinese side will fully consider the comments submitted in a timely manner and continue to discuss with the U.S. side in this regard as appropriate; the regulations recently announced by the Chinese side ("Interim Measures for the Administration of Overseas Investment of Insurance Funds") specify the relevant CIRC requirements that allow all domestic insurance companies, including foreign-funded insurance companies, to invest a certain percentage of their assets outside China.
Area 2: Investment in People's Livelihoods and Product Quality and Food Safety
China and the United States have engaged in an in-depth dialogue on how to ****together in efforts to mitigate the economic risks posed by an aging population, as well as how to better provide social services, including healthcare and retirement security. In addition, building on the significant progress made in the Third U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on product quality and food safety, the United States and China are committed to making further efforts to strengthen cooperation in this area, and to that end, the United States and China:
-Agreed to continue discussions on the quality of products for export from China and on the food safety management system. Enhance cooperation on inspection, quarantine, and safety of designated products.
-Will sign the 2008 Work Plan for the implementation of the Memorandum of Agreement on Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), part of China's Ministry of Health (MOH).
- Signed the Joint Statement of Progress on the Five-Year Plan for the Food and Feed Safety Agreement between the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China*** and the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States of America.
-The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China agreed to continue consultations on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on food safety.
-Signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
-***Together we are committed to exploring cooperation in disaster prevention, prediction and mitigation.
-Agreed on the importance of promoting consumer confidence in the area of product and drug safety, and reached an understanding of the importance of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) having a presence at U.S. embassies and consulates general, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of China having a presence at the Chinese embassy in the U.S. and at consulates general and agreed to agree on specific arrangements. Specific arrangements.
Area III: Energy and Environmental Cooperation
Recognizing that energy and environmental challenges are the most important policy issues facing the United States and China in the twenty-first century, and the importance of cooperation between the two countries in addressing these challenges, the United States and China are committed to strengthening long-term cooperation in the areas of energy and the environment. To that end, the two sides:
- Signed a ten-year framework for cooperation on energy and the environment, announced five major goals for cooperation under the first phase of the framework, established five working groups, initiated action plans for substantive cooperation under each goal so that all action plans can be finalized by the fifth U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), and held preliminary discussions on exploring the concept of a green partnership in advance of the fifth SED. Discussions were held.
- Agreed on the important relationship between energy security, economic development, and environmental protection, and agreed on the importance of exploring energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, and next-generation energy technologies. The United States and China also recognize the importance of ensuring responsible and transparent energy development to minimize negative impacts on the environment. Through the dialogue, the two sides will explore ways to fully apply the principle of energy security, which was embodied in the June 7, 2008 Joint Statement of the Five Energy Ministers' Meeting and the June 8 Joint Statement of the G8 Energy Ministers' Dialogue Meeting with China, India, and the Republic of Korea.
- Agreed to strengthen cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA) in areas of ***shared interest to address energy security issues on both sides, including global energy markets, strategic oil reserves, energy diversification, energy efficiency and clean energy technologies. Building on the commitments made in the Joint Statement of the June 7, 2008 meeting of the five energy ministers, China and the United States will consider voluntary participation in the collective action of IEA member countries in the event of oil supply disruptions.
- Agreed to share information and experience on waste utilization and disposal technologies and regulatory approaches.
- Agree to engage in bilateral exchanges on the scope and modalities of products for which tariffs are to be reduced or, where appropriate, eliminated, with a view to facilitating a comprehensive WTO agreement on environmentally preferable products and services.
- Agreed to explore the establishment of a mechanism for the regular exchange of information on trade in timber and forest products and timber legality determinations to promote trade in legal timber and forest products and global forest law enforcement and governance; agreed to discuss the transfer of forest fire forecasting, early warning, monitoring, and fire-fighting application technologies and equipment to China in June; and agreed to utilize their respective comparative advantages to promote the sustainable management of global forest resources.