China and the United States have agreed in principle on the form of a new mechanism to replace the semi-annual, cabinet-level Strategic Economic Dialogue, a senior official said on Monday.

Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told a news conference that Presidents Hu Jintao and Barack Obama were likely to announce what shape the dialogue would take when they meet in the margins of the G20 summit in London on April 2.

(Reporting by Zhou Xin; Writing by Alan Wheatley, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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