China will facilitate 100,000 US nationals studying Chinese over the coming four years, a Chinese education ministry official said 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-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

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

It also includes the inviting of US 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 US 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)