China promises further economic reform

China said it would push ahead with "reform and opening up" of its economy at the opening session of the first US-China strategic economic dialogue in Beijing Thursday, the Financial Times reported. But in taking this pledge, in which reference was made to addressing US concerns over financial reform, intellectual property rights and China's massive trade surplus, Vice-Premier Wu Yi tied tensions between the two countries to a US "misunderstanding" of China. She argued that China remains a poor developing country with considerable domestic challenges that cannot be resolved overnight. US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson welcomed the commitment to continued reforms, saying that the economic dialogue had to overcome the skeptics by producing "tangible results".