Chronologies
US - China
Chronology from Oct 2006 to Dec 2006
: As the Six-Party Talks recess, Chinese FM Li Zhaoxing and Secretary Rice speak by phone.
: The Treasury Department releases its semiannual currency report, which does not cite China as a currency manipulator.
: The Six-Party Talks open in Beijing.
: China’s Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Secretary Bodman sign a memorandum of understanding for Westinghouse Electric Co. to provide technology for four nuclear power plants to be built in China. Westinghose is awarded the $8 billion contract.
: Energy Secretary Bodman attends energy ministerial meeting of China, the U.S., Japan, the ROK, and India in Beijing. The meeting focuses on ways to increase energy utilization efficiency, keep international energy markets stable, and strengthen international energy security.
: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi co-chair the first round of the Sino-U.S. Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing.
: Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt and Chinese Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu inaugurate the China-U.S. Collaboration Program Office for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases in Beijing.
: In a meeting with Hu Jintao, former President George H. W. Bush says the U.S.-China relationship is “the best ever in history.”
: Fifth anniversary of China’s accession to the WTO.
: U.S. Trade Representative issues a report, required by law, on the fifth anniversary of China’s joining the World Trade Organization. The report notes China’s incomplete transition from a command economy to a free market economy.
: During a visit to Beijing, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan and delivers a speech at Qinghua University.
: In a statement released a week before his trip to China as part of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue delegation, Energy Secretary Sam Bodman says that the U.S. and China will strengthen cooperation on energy security.
: The second session of the Seminar on U.S.-China Legal Exchange takes place in Cleveland, Ohio. Vice Director of China’s State Council Office of Legislative Affairs Zhang Qiong, Vice Minister of Commerce Ma Xiuhong, and General Law Consultant of the U.S. Department of Commerce John Sullivan attend.
: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez announces that the public comment period has closed for new U.S.-China export security regulations, and that he will be leading an effort to finalize the new rules.
: Chief negotiators of China, the DPRK, and the U.S. meet in Beijing to discuss resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
: Presidents Bush and Hu exchange views on Darfur and other issues of common concern in a telephone conversation.
: In the first case in 15 years, the Department of Commerce accepts a petition requesting an anti-subsidy investigation of coated printing paper from China.
: Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill arrives in Beijing to discuss the Six-Party Talks with Chinese officials.
: The U.S. and PLA navies take part in a bilateral joint search and rescue exercise. Following a port visit to Zhanjiang, China, the USS Juneau participates in the exercise off the southern Chinese coast.
: Presidents Bush and Hu hold a bilateral meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam on the sidelines of the 14th APEC Leaders Meeting. Secretary Rice, also in attendance, expresses concerns about China’s outsized military expansion, unfair trading practices, and human rights record, but says U.S. concerns are manageable within the context of a strong bilateral relationship.
: The U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission releases its 2006 Annual Report to Congress. The report gives lawmakers 44 recommendations, which include boosting support for Taiwan’s bid to join international organizations and placing more pressure on China to end genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.
: Forty marines from the United States and China take part in an obstacle course competition in Zhanjiang, a port city in South China’s Guangdong Province. The competition marks the first face-to-face exchanges between the two marine forces.
: Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings visits Beijing at the invitation of China’s Ministry of Education as part of U.S. Higher Education Delegation to Asia. She discusses educational exchange opportunities with Education Minister Zhou Yi and Premier Wen and visits top Chinese universities.
: Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Adm. Gary Roughead arrives in China on the USS Juneau for a weeklong visit that includes U.S.-Chinese joint naval exercises.
: U.S. Ambassador to China Sandy Randt takes part in fifth annual Ambassador’s IPR Roundtable in Beijing.
: In an effort to expand U.S. export opportunities, Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez leads a delegation of 25 U.S. business executives to China to discuss ways to resolve key bilateral trade issues with senior Chinese officials. Gutierrez meets Vice Premier Wu Yi and Premier Wen. He also meets Han Zheng, acting party chief and mayor of Shanghai, and expresses a U.S. interest in playing a large role in Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo.
: Jon Dudas, U.S. under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, meets Liu Binjie, China’s deputy director of the State Press and Publication Administration, to discuss intellectual property protection at a closed-door session in Beijing. Both parties express interest in furthering U.S.-China cooperation in anti-piracy.
: China and the U.S. hold the third round of the Senior Dialogue in Beijing, agreeing on stronger cooperation and closer consultation. Chinese Vice FM Yang Jiechi and the U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns co-chair the Dialogue.
: U.S. holds mid-term elections, in which Democrats gain control of both houses of Congress.
: The heads of delegations to the Six-Party Talks from China, North Korea, and the U.S. hold an informal meeting in Beijing. Assistant Secretary Chris Hill notes a Chinese statement that North Korea has agreed to return to Six-Party Talks.
: Secretary Rice stops in China on the third leg of a four-nation tour that also includes visits to Japan, the ROK, and Russia. Rice meets with Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Chinese FM Li Zhaoxing, and Tang Jiaxuan.
: The 12th China-U.S. Joint Commission Meeting on Scientific and Technological Cooperation is held in Washington, DC. State Councilor Chen Zhili, Chinese delegation head, meets John Marburger III, director of the White House Science and Technology Policy Office, to discuss cooperation in science and technology.
: The U.S.-China Science and Technology Policy Forum takes place in Beijing. Forum participants include policy-level government officials, scientists, engineers, and policy scholars from both the U.S. and China.
: Hu Jintao dispatches a special envoy, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, to Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of North Korea’s nuclear test. Tang meets President Bush, Secretary Rice, and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.
: North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test. Beijing, notified of the test 20 minutes in advance by Pyongyang, alerts the U.S. of the impending nuclear test.
: Chinese FM Li Zhaoxing and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hold phone conversation about the North Korean nuclear test and related issues. Presidents George Bush and Hu Jintao also discuss North Korea’s nuclear test by telephone.