Key topics at the summit include currencies and access to markets

As high-level economic talks between the US and China get under way in Beijing, newspapers in China and the US reflect the tension and uncertainties between the two sides.

There appears to be more optimism in the Chinese press that the two sides can resolve their problems.

[The talks] merely mark the first step in the long march towards settling a host of chronic problems haunting the Sino-US economic relationship. The gravity of the Sino-US strategic economic dialogue lies in finding out the areas where Chinese and US economic interests converge.

This is also the only way out for the Chinese-American economic relationship. The two parties should, therefore, put all their expectations and goals on the table, analyse the disputes and common ground and finally find a solution that is acceptable to both.

Strengthening strategic consultations on economic and trade issues will not only help resolve friction in economic and trade fields, but will also lay a solid foundation for the stable development of Sino-US relations.

The establishment of a strategic economic dialogue mechanism between China and the United States is vital. In Sino-US relations, economic and trade relations occupy a very important position.

This dialogue will far exceed the economic and trade level, and will lay deep foundations for the structure of Sino-US relations in the next few decades, including energy, industrial structures and how both countries deal with each other regarding economic friction, cooperation and other issues. This will certainly be a long-term process.

The United States has requested that Beijing speed up the opening up of its market. Although the United States has been bearing down menacingly, it is believed that this is only a superficial political show. The true meat of the show is actually establishing a bilateral dialogue mechanism to handle the interests and conflicts between China and the United States in future.

There will no doubt be some concrete issues, such as an exchange of blows over renminbi revaluation, intellectual property rights protection and so on, which will attract attention, but what will be most important and most noteworthy for the outside world will be the establishment of the bilateral dialogue mechanism.

China appears to view the dialogue less as a vehicle for adjusting its policies than as a means to air its opinion that the United States should alter its economy to end an addiction to Chinese goods and loans that sustain gigantic American trade and budget deficits.

The American argument is that it is in China's interest for it to channel its surplus of investment capital not into export industries, but into improving the lives of Chinese citizens and promoting a service- and consumer-led economy that does not use as much energy to run and does not further degrade the environment. But a transition to that kind of economy could take years, maybe decades.

Bush Sr. worried China faces trade backlash in US.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is leading a high-profile team in China. Some question the nation's willingness to yield to the US... Analysts questioned whether the Asian trading giant could grant major concessions.

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