U.S.-China Issues

19 June 2008

United States, China Sign Accord on Energy, Environmental Issues

Two nations also to launch talks on investment treaty

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States and China have signed a framework for cooperation on energy and environmental issues and will launch negotiations on an investment treaty, says U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Paulson and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan completed two days of meetings at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, June 18, and signed a 10-year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework.  The framework is designed to address energy security, environmental sustainability and climate change, Paulson said at a news briefing.

The 10-year framework will center on five areas -- electricity, air, water, transportation and conservation of forest and wetland ecosystems, Paulson said.  "We will pursue the concept of eco-partnerships as a potential vehicle for voluntary cooperative initiatives across public and private entities," he said.

In addition to the environmental and energy arrangement he and Wang signed June 18, Paulson said negotiations are being launched on a bilateral investment treaty.  "The conclusion of a [treaty] would send a strong signal that our two nations welcome investment and will treat each other's investors in a fair and transparent manner," he said.

The new investment treaty would set standards for nondiscriminatory treatment of investments, set clear and fair regulations and set up a mechanism for arbitration of disputes.  The Chinese have similar arrangements with several European and Asian nations.

The Annapolis meeting is the fourth in the semiannual round of high-level economic talks under the "strategic economic dialogue" Paulson launched in 2006 shortly after joining the Bush administration.  The next meeting will be held in Beijing in December.

Other agreements reached in the talks include:

• working groups will look at eliminating trade barriers to environmental goods.

• the nations will cooperate in sudden energy emergencies.

• China and the United States will cooperate on forest management and efforts to halt illegal logging.

• China agreed to ease barriers to allow U.S. financial service companies to operate or make investments in China and to let American credit-rating agencies operate more freely in China.

Paulson's closing remarks can be obtained from the Treasury Department Web page.  Copies of three fact sheets from the strategic economic dialogue (one, two, three) are available on America.gov.