The next Sino-US economic talks will be held early next month, US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said Tuesday, but she was not sure if president-elect Barack Obama would retain the half-yearly event.
"I will come back on December 4 and 5 and meet again in Beijing," Chao told reporters in the Chinese capital.
"The value of this Strategic Economic Dialogue is self-evident, so we hope that the next administration will continue it," she said, in response to a question if the talks would be continued under Obama.
Chao, who is in China for a work safety forum, said she did not know yet if Obama would send a representative to the December talks, which will be the fifth session of the dialogue.
"We may be offered (an Obama representative). They have so many transitional issues they've got to deal with," she said.
The Strategic Economic Dialogue was initiated two years ago by US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and is now the highest-level regular forum for discussion of economic issues between the two nations.
