The first round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (broader version of the SEDs started in 2005) was held in Washington, D.C., from 27 to 28 July, 2009. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (who during the presidential primary campaign declared that the US relationship with China would be the "most bilateral relationship in the world in this century") and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner, as special representatives of President Barack Obama, and Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, as special representatives of Chinese President Hu Jintao, co-chaired the Dialogue, which included Strategic and Economic tracks under this framework. President Obama opened the meeting by declaring that the two countries share a responsibility for the 21st century, and should strive to cooperate not only on economic matters but also on key issues such as climate change, nuclear proliferation and transnational threats. This was in fact the aim of the enlarged formula of the SED, with the two sides exchanging views on a wider range of topics, including security: they pledged to enhance anti-terror cooperation and cooperation on regional (North Korea) and international security issues, welcoming recent improvements in military-to-military relations; they agreed that the two militaries would expand exchanges at all levels and gave a positive assessment of the results of the recent Ministry of National Defense- Defense Department co-led Defense Consultative Talks (DCT) in Beijing, and noted that Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission General Xu Caihou is going to visit the United States within this year at the invitation of Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

No matter whether this is going to be a formal G2, which is very unlikely, in a planet under pressure of global threats the fact is that China and the US are doomed to dialogue as the biggest political subjects on the scene; their de facto hegemony relies not only on their mutual economic and financial dependence: China has already the second-largest military budget. But, starting from the financial and economic field, their relationship is uneasy and not exclusive: in Washington, China asked for more representation of the developing countries (starting from Brazil, Russia and India) in the International Financial Institutions, and it was the head of China's Central Bank who proposed a new world reserve currency. In the Joint Fact Sheet they released upon conclusion of the Economic Track, the two sides agreed on both of them taking measures to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth in their domestic economies, to ensure a strong recovery from the international financial crisis. In other words, on the one hand, China asked the United States to protect its investment assets, taking measures to increase US national savings as a share of GDP and adopting policies that will encourage household savings, and the United States declared its commitment to reduce the federal budget deficit relative to GDP to a sustainable level by 2013; while, on the other hand, the United States asked China to implement structural and macro-economic policies to stimulate domestic demand and increase the contribution of consumption to GDP growth, to further enhance access in its service market and expand areas and channels for non-governmental investments, with a view to expedite the development of its services industry and increase the share of services in GDP; China should also deepen social safety net reform, including strengthening its basic old-age insurance system and enterprise annuities.

Even more important, the two sides negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Enhance Cooperation on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment . The MOU "establishes a mechanism for climate change policy dialogue and cooperation, to promote (i) discussion and exchange of views on domestic strategies and policies for addressing climate change; (ii) practical solutions for promoting the transition to low-carbon economies; (iii) successful international negotiations on climate change; (iv) joint research, development, deployment, and transfer, as mutually agreed, of climate-friendly technologies; (v) cooperation on specific projects; (vi) adaptation to climate change; (vii) capacity building and the raising of public awareness; and (viii) pragmatic cooperation on climate change between cities, universities, provinces and states of the two countries".

President Barack Obama will visit China this year at the invitation of President Hu Jintao and the second round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue will be held in Beijing next year. The two main actors of the world policy have definitively moved "from hostility to engagement", but who is going to help them avoid the temptation of making G2s?