China and the United States will hold the fifth round of strategic dialogue next Thursday and Friday in Beijing and Guiyang in southwestern China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the announcement on Thursday.

According to Jiang Yu, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo and the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte will co-chair the dialogue.

The two sides will continue to have an in-depth exchange of the views on Sino-U.S. relations and the international and regional issues of common concerns based on the previous four dialogues.

The dialogue mechanism was established in accordance with the consensus reached in 2004 between Chinese President Hu Jintao and the U.S. President George W. Bush. It is seen as an important platform for the two countries to communicate on strategic and political level.

The first strategic dialogue was held in Beijing in August of 2005.