vice president, was the time was spent in conversations together in beijing and cheng du, and i look forward to continuing the conversation we started this morning. the vice president has already participated in three meetings prior to this lunch, and they covered a broad range of constructive discussions. and we have a very ambitious agenda in the coming days as well. as vice president i discussed at some length the united states and china have much to do together, quite frankly, because our relationship is literally going to help shape the 21st century. we are not only the world's two largest economies, but we are both pacific powers and everyday the affairs of our nations and the livelihood of our citizens grow more connected. the president and i came in office determined to rebalance america's strategic priorities towards of those regions that are critical to our nation's -- most critical to our nation's future and that meant refocusing on asia, the most dynamic region of the global economy. >> [interpreter] >> and to state the obvious, the u.s.-china relationship is a critical c