i have a great privilege of having as my counterpart the vice premier of china, wang qishan. i want to say a few things about him before he speaks to you. those of you who know him know that he is remarkably direct, he is a remarkably pragmatic person, he is intellectually challenging, engaging, funny, a deep sense of irony to use bob's words. those of you who met him understand this. you just look at what he has been asked to to do for his country, he has been asked to take on some of the hardest problems that remarkable economy has faced. he is the preeminent troubleshooter, firefighter, problem solver, and he has done remarkably well in that context. he is the man they turn to in moments of opportunity in crisis, that makes for countries around the world a remarkably valuable counterpart. we made a very good start these past couple days. this relationship between the united states and china is in a very strong position. we have a very good basis of mutual understanding about what we face, the pressures we are undertaking, and we are trying to get the big strategic things r

vice premier qishan wang mentioned deng xiaoping and one of the most moving experiences in my life was one evening when deng xiaoping-- return to beijing in 1979 and explained to me at a banquet what his plans were and what he understood. i mention that only because it was a very unusual approach and it brought us to this point because of the combination of courage and vision, which characterized him and then its successes. it is my privilege this evening to introduce state councilor binnguo dai. the most difficult problem of foreign policy is that one always has to act on assessments, which cannot be known when one makes them. i know nobody who has better judgment, more thoughtful preparations, more patients and more commitment to the central importance of the china american relationship and state councilor binnguo dai i and many of the interlocutors have learned an enormous amount from him, and we know that under his guidance and that of vice premier, the chinese american delegations will begin to chart a future as a revolutionary as of their great predecessor, deng xiaoping is in th

i have the great privilege of having as my counterpart the vice premier of china, wang qishan and want to say a few things about him before he comes to speak to you. those of you that know him know that he is remarkably direct. he is a remarkably pragmatic person. he's intellectually challenging, engaging, funny, a deep sense of irony to use bob's words. and i think those of you that met him and work with him understand this. but you just look what he's been asked to do for his country these last decades and i think he has been asked to take on donner hardest problems that remarkable economy has faced. he is the definitive printable shooter, firefighter, problem solver, and he is remarkably well in that context and he is a man they return to in moments of crisis and that makes him for the united states and countries around the world a remarkably counterpart. i think we made a very good start these last couple of days. i think this relationship between the united states and china is in a very strong position. i think we have a very good basis of mutual understanding on the challenges we