US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will pay his first visit to China next month after taking office in July, a US official said in Washington yesterday.

 

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said she could confirm that Paulson will visit Beijing in September, but declining to give more details.

 

McLaughlin, also deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, said the US is trying to promote further relations with China.

 

"The US relationship with China may be the single most important economic relationship of the 21st century," she said.

 

"Continuing to develop a constructive and mutually-beneficial economic relationship with China now is vitally important since the decisions we take in the next few years will guide the US-China relationship over the next generation, and the shape and pace of global growth for years to come," she added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2006)