BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States should settle their economic and trade disputes through dialogue and consultation only, Vice Premier Wu Yi said Wednesday.

    Speaking at the opening ceremony of the bilateral Strategic Economic Dialogue, she recognized that the strong growth of China-U.S. business ties has boosted their cooperation in other fields and has become a foundation for the overall China-U.S. relations.

    "History has repeatedly shown it is dialogue and consultation, not confrontation and finger pointing, that has enabled the China-U.S. business relations to grow," Wu said.

    Bilateral trade volume is expected to top 300 billion U.S. dollars this year, said Wu, adding that the two countries are each other's second largest trading partners and that China has been the fastest growing export market for the United States for five years in a row.

    "We should address issues in our business relations in a constructive way," said Wu, adding that China and the U.S. are both stake-holders and constructive partners.

    "We should make joint efforts and adopt comprehensive measures to ease trade imbalance and resole disputes to boost our business ties," she said.

    The two-day high-level talk will focus on down-to-earth issues from trade integrity, product safety, balanced economic development to energy and environmental cooperation.