US and China pledge closer co-operation

The United States and China have ended two days of high-level talks with few concrete results but hopeful that connections forged among senior officials will help them work together better to fix the world’s toughest problems.

In remarks after the end of meetings yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said candid discussions on subjects from North Korea’s nuclear programmes to the officials’ grandchildren would be crucial to building a foundation that would let the countries settle future spats and co-operate on major global crises.