Strategic and economic dialogue bids to piece together the Sino-US jigsaw
Piecing together the world's two major powers start annual talks today, but a whole new cast of negotiators on both sides will face a series of problematic issues
Talks between China and the United States that start today will offer a new cast of diplomats and economic chiefs on both sides of the Pacific their first real chance to address major policy issues concerning the two powers.
The annual strategic and economic dialogue has, in its five years, become an important venue for managing what is arguably the world's most crucial bilateral relationship.
In a sign of the importance the United States gives to the relationship, US Vice-President Joe Biden will open the summit.
But this year's talks in Washington have an added significance, observers say, because they come on the heels of leadership reshuffles in both capitals, with new officials in all the top diplomatic and economic posts.
Adding to the complexity is the issue of cybersecurity, which was a source of growing tension even before former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden disclosed US snooping on China while in Hong Kong last month.
There are increased concerns about an economic slowdown in China, as well as a commitment to forge a "new type of relationship between major powers" - a vaguely defined concept stressed when presidents Xi Jinping and Barack Obama met in California last month.