The United States and China have agreed for the first time ever to hold regular, senior-level talks on a whole range of political and economic issues, the US State Department said.

The talks were a recognition of the "role that China is playing in Asia, in global affairs, as a member of the UN Security Council," and based on a need to have more regular bilateral discussions on world issues, department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

The decision to hold the discussions was reached between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Chinese leaders during her visit to Beijing last month, Boucher said.

The details, structure and timing of the talks are still to be worked out, he said.

But The Washington Post said Friday quoting senior US administration officials that the meetings, which the US government had chosen to call a "global dialogue," will be headed by Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.

Security would also feature in the talks, it said.

The place for the first meeting is undecided with China favoring Beijing and the United States, Washington, the officials said.

A Chinese vice foreign minister will head the Chinese delegation at the regular meetings, which have never been held at such a senior level the they said.

"We have, over the past several years, I think, been able to enhance our cooperation with China on many of these issues, whether it's DPRK, the fight against terrorism, we need to work with them in Sudan, all these things," Boucher said.

"And so in addition to continue in a dialogue on economic issues, that's been, I think, useful and important to us, we want to have a dialogue that goes to other issues as well," he added.

The talks both signify China's interest in the prestige of such sessions and Washington's efforts to come to terms with China's rising influence in Asia, the officials said.

The US has chosen to call the talks a "global dialogue," the officials told the daily, to differentiate them from the "strategic dialogue" the US holds with its allies.

Asked whether the talks would be at the level of a strategic dialogue that the United States had with, for example, India, Boucher said: "I would call it regular senior-level talks."

Jian Quan, a visiting Chinese diplomat, told The Washington Post the meetings would provide "a platform, a basis for the two countries to have direct, frank and deep dialogue."

He said that "through such effective communication, both sides would be in the position to avoid actions and policies that would lead to misunderstandings."

Source: China Daily/agencies