WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has opened talks with high-level Chinese officials, hailing an opportunity for better relations and saying the two countries share common interests and mutual threats.

Kicking off a new dialogue with Beijing, Clinton said that the two "are laying brick by brick the foundation of a stronger relationship."

She said it was time to move from "a multipolar world to a multipartner world."

The talks will include discussions of the global economic slide, climate change and commercial relationships. Clinton said the two "will not always see eye to eye." Both sides are emphasizing the importance of the meetings.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan says he's confident the world economic crisis is easing and his government has high expectations for even more progress in high-level talks this week with U.S. officials.

Following Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in kicking off the rare high-level Washington talks, Wang said he believes the global economy "is at a critical moment of moving out of crisis and into recovery."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed Qishan and some 150 Chinese to the talks Monday morning, saying China has gone through a remarkable economic "transformation." He said Beijing and Washington "have acted together" to help the world recover from the financial slump and that it's time to design a "green global economy."

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, The Associated Press, July 27, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called Monday for far-reaching cooperation with China, saying the nations can help the world come out of economic crisis.

The leading members of President Barack Obama's cabinet made the joint call ahead of two days of top-level dialogue with China starting Monday on charting the future course of relations.

"Simply put, few global problems can be solved by the US or China alone. And few can be solved without the US and China together," Geithner and Clinton wrote.

The two argued that measures to create and save jobs by the largest developed and developing economies had helped the world at large weather its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

"The success of the world?s major economies in blunting the force of the global recession and setting the stage for recovery is due in substantial measure to the bold steps our two nations have taken," they said.

"As we move toward recovery, we must take additional steps to lay the foundation for balanced and sustainable growth in the years to come."

Clinton and Geithner renewed US calls for China to open up its financial sector and to ween itself off its dependence on exports by spurring domestic demand in the world's most populous nation.

"Raising personal incomes and strengthening the social safety net to address the reasons why Chinese feel compelled to save so much would provide a powerful boost to Chinese domestic demand and global growth," they said.

Clinton and Geithner called for progress with China on global warming. The United States and China are the world's top carbon emitters and have been at loggerheads in the countdown to a December meeting in Copenhagen aimed at drafting a new global climate treaty.

The top US diplomat and financial chief said they hoped for further cooperation with China on a range of global issues ranging from bringing stability to Afghanitan and Pakistan to assisting Africa to reining in nuclear-armed North Korea.

Clinton and Geithner made no direct reference to China's human rights record, a longstanding source of US concern in its largest creditor, but said the two nations "must be frank about our differences."

AFP, July 27, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Hillary Clinton sought once again Sunday to dispel speculation she has a rocky relationship with President Barack Obama, her adversary in last year's White House race who picked her as secretary of state.

Media speculation has persisted about tensions between the two former rivals, with suggestions she has been a disgruntled chief diplomat in her boss's shadow, but Clinton insisted they have "a great relationship."

"We have an incredibly candid and open exchange," Clinton said on the NBC network's "Meet the Press."

"I see him usually several times a week, at least once one-on-one. And I'm ready to offer my advice."

Clinton stressed she understood "that the election is over" and she has no designs on the White House.

"That's not anything I'm at all thinking about," she said, referring to any future presidential bid. "I've got a very demanding and exciting job right now, and... I doubt very much that anything like that will ever -- ever be part of my life."

She has made sharp comments against the administration, criticizing the failure to fill open posts at the US Agency for International Development.

Further fueling the speculation, Clinton was forced to miss recent major foreign policy events, including Obama's trip to the G8 summit and to Russia, after she fractured her elbow.

But her high-profile trip to Asia, where she logged a key visit to India, attended an Asia security meeting, and traded jibes with North Korea placed her squarely back in the limelight -- but, she insisted, as Obama's top diplomat.

"At the end of the day, it is the president who has to set and articulate policy.

"I'm privileged to be in a position where I am the chief adviser, I'm the chief diplomat, I'm the chief executor of the policy that the president pursues, but I know very well that a team that works together is going to do a better job for America."

To push home the point that her ties with Obama were on an even keel, Clinton revealed she had a portrait in her State Department office of William Henry Seward, who served as president Abraham Lincoln's wartime secretary of state.

Seward had been seen by many as the top contender for their party's nomination in 1860, but joined Lincoln's cabinet after the defeat, in a scenario that helped create the team-of-rivals concept in American politics.

And while she had hit away at Obama's inexperience and lack of toughness on the campaign trail, she said Sunday she was impressed with how he has handled himself since the inauguration.

"I'm here to say, as somebody who's spent an enormous amount of time and effort running against him, I think his performance in office has been incredible," Clinton said.

AFP, July 26, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Iran's leaders on Sunday that if they were seeking nuclear weapons, "your pursuit is futile," and ruled out explicitly the possibility that the Obama administration would allow Iran to produce its own nuclear fuel, even under intense international inspection.

Mrs. Clinton made her statement, on NBC's "Meet the Press," days after she raised the possibility of an American-created "defense umbrella" over the Middle East to counter Iran's efforts to build its power in the region by trying to developweapons capacity. Soon after Mrs. Clinton spoke of the shield on Wednesday, senior members of the Obama administration tried to walk back her comments, saying that she was speaking "personally" and that such an umbrella had always been implied by America's strong interests in the region, including oil interests.

But on Sunday she did not back away from her statement. "I think it's clear we're trying to affect the internal calculus of the Iranian regime," she said, adding, "What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions that if you're pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen."

It is unclear what a "defense umbrella" in the region would look like, however, and Mrs. Clinton offered no details when asked whether the United States was willing to extend the same defense over Middle East allies that it has already extended across Europe, Japan and South Korea.

"We are not talking in specifics," she insisted. "You hope for the best; you plan for the worst."

While the Obama administration has often said that it would not allow Iran to possess a nuclear weapon, some officials have hedged slightly when asked whether they could envision a situation in which Tehran, as part of a broader deal, might be permitted to produce its own nuclear fuel, called a fuel cycle in the nuclear industry. Reformers and hard-liners in Iran have said the country should produce its own fuel and have argued that it has that right as a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

But President George W. Bush had argued that Iran forfeited that right by conducting secret nuclear activities for 18 years. In contrast, Mohamed ElBaradei, the departing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a nonproliferation watchdog, has argued that the best way to avoid a confrontation is to allow Iran a token of nuclear fuel capacity, under toughened inspection rules to assure that fuel is not diverted for weapons. On Sunday, Mrs. Clinton seemed to side with the Bush administration.

"You have a right to pursue the peaceful use of civil, nuclear power," Mrs. Clinton said, as if addressing an Iranian audience. "You do not have a right to obtain a nuclear weapon. You do not have the right to have the full enrichment and reprocessing cycle under your control. But there's a lot that we can do with Iran if Iran accepts what is the international consensus."

Her phrase "under your control" seemed to leave open the possibility of having others enrich uranium on Iran's behalf, perhaps on Iranian soil.

Mrs. Clinton also found herself in the uncomfortable position of explaining the recent comments of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who on returning from a visit to Georgia offered a surprisingly downbeat assessment of Russia's future and its intentions.

"They have a shrinking population base," Mr. Biden told The Wall Street Journal. "They have a withering economy. They have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years. They're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable."

Asked whether Mr. Biden's message was that "the U.S. now has the upper hand when it's dealing with Russia," she replied, "No, and I don't think that's at all what the vice president meant."

"We want a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia," she added.

But she also underscored parts of Mr. Biden's message, made after he went to Georgia and Ukraine, two countries nervous about Russia's intentions. "We are very clearly not saying that Russia can have a 21st-century sphere of influence in Eastern Europe," Mrs. Clinton said. "That is, you know, an attitude and a policy we reject."

By David E. Sanger, The New York Times, July 26, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is implicitly urging Israel to give U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear ambitions a chance to work.

Clinton also says that Iran must understand by now that the United States will never let Iran develop nuclear weapons. At the same time she says that Washington remains ready for dialogue with Iran on is nuclear program.

There are increasing concerns that Israel, seen as a primary target of an Iranian weapons program, might launch a first strike to destroy Tehran's nuclear sites before the Islamic regime is able to build a bomb.

Clinton says that Washington hopes the Jewish state understands American attempts to talk to Iran is a better approach.

She spoke Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Associated Press, July 26, 2009

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says that North Korea is isolated as never before and that China has been enormously helpful in pressuring the regime to abandon its nuclear program.

Clinton says that North Korea doesn't have any friends left.

The secretary of state recently returned from a tour of Asia and credits China with being "extremely positive and productive" in respect to North Korea.

The hardline regime has abandoned promises to dismantle its nuclear program and recently conducted a number of missile tests and an underground nuclear explosion.

Clinton spoke Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The Associated Press, July 26, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday warned Iran that any pursuit of a nuclear weapons program is "futile," and said the United States is doing everything in its power to ensure that Tehran does not acquire an atomic bomb.

"Your pursuit is futile," Clinton said on the NBC television network's Meet the Press show.

"What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions, that if you are pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen."

AFP, July 26, 2009

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's state media Sunday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of interfering with the internal affairs of Southeast Asia and said America's troops in Asia threatened world security.

Clinton attended Asia's largest security forum in Thailand last week where she urged Myanmar's military rulers to set pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu kyi free, dangling the carrot of future business ties.

She also called for democratic reforms in the country and said expelling Myanmar from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) if Suu Kyi was not released would be an "appropriate" measure to consider.

"This is really interfering with ASEAN's internal affairs," said the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper.

"If ASEAN obeys the United States Secretary of State, ASEAN will be under the United States' influence," the comment piece said.

During the meetings in Phuket, Clinton expressed concerns about the possibility that North Korea was transferring weapons and nuclear technology to Myanmar.

However, in what Clinton later described as an "encouraging" move, Myanmar made a surprising show of support for sanctions designed to squeeze North Korea over its nuclear ambitions.

But the Myanma Ahlin article showed little sign of improved relations with the US, criticising its presence in Afghanistan.

"The real danger in the region resides in the US military troops in Asia. They are the ones who threaten the security of the whole world, not just in the region," it said.

On Friday, the country's English-language state newspaper The New Light of Myanmar criticised foreign calls for Suu Kyi's release from Insein prison, saying they showed "reckless disregard for the law".

But Suu Kyi's lawyers hailed international calls for her freedom as they gave their closing arguments in a bid to prevent her being jailed for five years on charges of breaching her house arrest rules.

Prosecution lawyers will give their final arguments Monday in the court case, which stems from an incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home in May.

Suu Kyi has spent most of the last two decades in detention since the junta refused to recognise her party's victory in elections in 1990.

AFP, July 26, 2009