The dialogue was co-chaired by Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. China's State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe, who was visiting the US, also attended the event.

The dialogue does not seek immediate resolution of specific issues, but helps the two countries better understand each other's respective "strategic intensions", said Zhou Fangyin, a researcher of Chinese foreign policy at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies.

Though the US considers China a strategic competitor, that does not mean it does not need partnership with China, Zhou said. So it would be a rational choice to seek a mutually beneficial result instead of allowing ties to trend toward confrontation.

Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said the dialogue is crucially important as it took place at a time when mutual trust is very low.