US, China economies 'inseparable': China official

WASHINGTON (AP) - The economies of China and the US have become "interdependent and inseparable," a top Chinese official said on Wednesday after high-level trade talks which were being watched for signs of how the two powers will cooperate after their respective political transitions.

Vice Premier Wang Qishan was speaking after the annual US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. Tackling dozens of thorny, detailed trade issues, the two days of talks were short on big outcomes but set an upbeat tone for relations after President Barack Obama's re-election and the elevation of new leaders of China's ruling Communist Party.

Mr Wang, who last month was elevated to a spot in the elite seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, said recovery of the world economy in the next five years will be sluggish, so the US-China economic relationship has acquired critical importance.

"Our two countries have to strengthen our economic relationship. We have to come to terms with the fact that we have become interdependent and inseparable," he said.