Timeline: Important Sino-U.S. Visits in 2009

February 20-22: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits China, meets with top Chinese officials to discuss topics including the global economic crisis, advancing bilateral financial efforts and promoting energy and environmental protection agreements.

February 27-28: China and the United States hold a fifth round of Defense Policy Coordination Talks in Beijing—the first military-to-military summit between both nations since President Barack Obama assumed office in January.

March 9-13: Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi visits the United States; meets with President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

April 1: Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with U.S. President Obama for the very first time during the G20 London summit. Both leaders voice a shared vision on future bilateral relations, coupled with an agreement to enhance the Strategic and Economic Dialogue between Beijing and Washington.

April 25-May 1: Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming visits the United States, aiming to establish stronger economic ties between the two nations.

May 24-May 31: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pays an eight-day visit to China, calling for closer cooperation between the United States and China in the arena of climate change.

May 24: Following in Pelosi's footsteps, Foreign Relations Senate Committee Chairman John Kerry arrives in China to seek increased cooperation on climate change initiatives.

May 25: Democratic Representative Rick Larsen and Republican Representative Mark Kirk, the Co-Chairs of the Congressional U.S.-China Working Group, come to China to discuss possible strategies with which to ameliorate the global economic slowdown.

May 25: U.S. special envoy to the Sudan Scott Gration finds common ground with Liu Guijin, China's Special Representative for Darfur, on how to resolve the Darfur crisis.

May 30: Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, convenes with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the 2009 Asian Security Summit in Singapore. During the meeting, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, Gates emphasizes a need for transparency between the United States and China—and the rest of the world—concerning regional strategic and defense goals, political motivations and military development.

May 31-June 2: On a three-day visit to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner meets with senior Chinese economic officials, including Vice Premier Wang Qishan, as well as chiefs of finance, commerce, banking and securities. During the talks, Geithner expresses the wish to pursue closer economic ties with China, as an effective means of combating the economic crisis.

June 5: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg meets with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo. Both sides exchange views regarding tensions on the Korean Peninsula, along with other regional issues of common concern.

June 23: Defense officials from China and an 11-member U.S. delegation led by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy meet in Beijing in the 10th annual round of defense consultations.

July 14-17: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu visit China, underscoring a vast potential for mutually beneficial relationships between China and the United States in the clean energy sector. Together, China and the United States have established a clean energy research center, which focuses on coal and clean buildings and vehicles.

(Reporting from Beijing and Washington, D.C.)