The fifth meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) is approaching quickly. While the first four S&ED meetings were relatively unproductive, there is hope that this meeting may be different, as the economic situation along with other aspects of the strategic bilateral relationship between the two nations have changed in recent months.

As time progresses, regional trade agreements have grown in number. Although these agreements are effective and beneficial to those nations involved, they cannot and should not replace the global "free-trade" framework.

Everyone is talking about China’s economic slowdown, writes Zhang Jun. But, as Premier Li Keqiang seems to recognize, this trend could actually be beneficial, spurring the structural reforms that China needs.

Although China’s economic growth continues to slow, with economic data coming well below market expectations, Yi Xianrong explains that the People’s Bank of China will not rush to endorse quantitative easing.

The Federal Reserve and the People’s Bank of China are on the same path to policy normalization, but for very different reasons, writes Stephen Roach.

Income disparity in China is among one of the many issues that could have been addressed at Sunnylands. However, as Michael Justin Lee points out, symbolism overshadowed substance at the first meeting of Presidents Xi and Obama.

China’s middle class is expected to grow to over 600 million people by 2022. Given the already well-established market for US automobiles in China, the growth of the Middle Kingdom’s middle class will only benefit the US auto industry.

From June 8-9, the China-U.S. summit in Sunnylands, California attracted world attention because President Xi and President Obama decided to exchange in-depth views on global, regional and bilateral issues such as climate change, cyber-security, Sino-U.S. military ties, etc. The two leaders also touched the bilateral economic and trade ties, which have long been considered an anchor of a stable and strong Sino-U.S. relationship.

China’s adjustment of its investment-income deficit for 2011 exposes flaws in economic growth, but hasn’t raised as much concern as it should. Two statistics account for China’s negative net investment-income, high return on foreign investment and China’s foreign assets are mostly US dollars. Without fundamental change, it is hard to imagine a sable Chinese economy in the long-term future.

Though facing a largely uncertain prospect for its economic recovery after the 2008 financial tsunami, the US has for five years worked strenuously to promote economic restructuring, lay out plans for developing new industries globally and shore up its potential competitiveness for future growth.