China will facilitate 100,000 U.S. nationals studying Chinese over the coming four years, a Chinese education ministry official said in Beijing Wednesday.

Zhang Xiuqin, director of Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of the Ministry of Education, briefed the press on the exchange programs agreement reached at the second round of the China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The agreement includes the inviting to China of U.S. students, principals of U.S. primary and secondary schools and Chinese teachers of American nationality.

It also includes the inviting of U.S. college students to summer camps in China.

Also under the program, 10,000 Chinese postgraduates will go to the United States to undertake PhD programs.

Zhang said the program will allow China to send its top graduate students to prestigious U.S. universities and research institutes.

"Education serves as a lubricant for the steady development of China-US ties over the long run," said Zhang.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2010)