US seeks China's cooperation on Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan

President Hu Jintao on Saturday, met US secretary of State Hillary Clinton here as American and Chinese officials said they will expand high-level ties on economic issues to include security matters also.

After extensive meetings with Hu, prime minister Wen Jiabao and foreign minister Yang Jiechi, Clinton said that Washington wanted Beijing to step up the efforts to address threats like Iran and North Korea's nuclear programme and tense security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The two nations agreed to cooperate in stabilising global economies and to combat climate change, as Washington agreed to put aside its long concern over human rights in China, official Xinhua news agency reported.

A major off-shoot of Clinton's visit was when she was quoted as saying that the two countries will expand regular dialogue between economic officials to include US State Department and the Chinese Foreign Ministry officials to cover
security issues.

After the meeting, Clinton said the US was hopeful of opening of "a new era" in Sino-US relations characterized by positive cooperation, Xinhua reported.

With the Chinese exports reeling from the meltdown in US market, Clinton, during her meetings with China's top brass assured them that China which holds massive amounts of US treasury notes would remain a fair investment.