kenneth lieberthal, you saw it.et of 50 cars, hauling the dell delegation from place to place, when you see a meeting like this, can you conclude for america, this is the most important bilateral relation in the world? >> i think effectively it is. china next year will have the world's second largest economy behind only ours. whatever global issue you think of-- whether it's nuclear proliferation, north korea and iran, whether it's global climate change where china is the largest greenhouse gas emiter in the world ahead only of us or whether it's the major economic issues of our day-- the capacity of the u.s. and china to work reasonably well together is crucial to managing those problems reasonably effectively if we go at cross-purposes those problems become much more difficult. yes, i would say we have a number of very important relations but if there's one that stands out it's our relationship with china. >> suarez: ted fishman, do you agree? >> yeah, china is one of the three or four relationships which is our m

thank you again for coming by yield the floor to my a colleague kenneth lieberthal who will chair thefirst session. >> thank you very much richard a genuine pleasure to welcome you here today for this conference and 12 expressway appreciation to our speakers to have come from out of town. the first panel is on the major issue of global climate change. this is clearly an issue where the united states and china are the two biggest players on the issue unfortunately since each of us account for global greenhouse gas emissions every year. as an issue whose focus is changing, the u.s. hysterically has clearly been the largest single contributor, a peculiar term, a responsible country in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and since the gasses remain in the atmosphere for a long time coming history matters but as reflected in future the u.s. has peaked in the greenhouse gas emissions and the issue is how much will be reduced those and with what schedule? china is nowhere near its peak but on a very steep upward curve so while the focus has been on the u.s. historically it will shift to china

kenneth lieberthal the director of our john l. thornton china center. and it's our joint privilege to welcome you here today. the subject is u.s./china cooperation on big issues. washington and beijing will soon convene the second strategic and economic dialog. the first was last summer. and at that first dialog, president obama gave a speech that captured his vision of our bilateral relationship. among other things he said the relationship between the united states and china will shape the 21st century, which makes it as important as any bilateral relationship in the world. that really must underpin our partnership. that is a responsibility that together we bear. i believe that we are poised to make great progress on some of the most important issues of our times. my confidence is rooted in the fact that the united states and china share mutual interest. if we advance these interests through cooperation, our people will benefit and the world would be better off because our ability to partner with each other is a prerequisite for progress on many of the