August.21 (China Military News cited from Chinamil.com) -- Chen Bingde, member of the Central Military Commission and chief of general staff of the Chinese PLA, met with visiting Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army General George Casey on August 20 in Beijing.

files photo: U.S. Navy Adm. Timothy Keating (L), commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, shares a light moment with Chinese Chief of General Staff Department General Chen Bingde upon arrival at the Ba Yi Building in Beijing January 14, 2008

Chen Bingde said that Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President Barack Obama reached an important consensus in April this year on building a positive, cooperative and comprehensive China-U.S. relationship for the 21st century, which charted the orientation for the development of bilateral relations. China and the U.S. have more extensive common interests and broader cooperative foundation in face of the profound changes of the current international and regional situation and the increasing global challenges.

Chen Bingde pointed out that as the important part of the China-U.S. relations, the relationship between the two militaries also obtained certain improvement and development recently. The Chinese side attaches great importance to the ties between the two militaries and is willing to work together with the U.S. side to boost the constant development of the bilateral military ties.

Chen Bingde reiterated China's stand on the taiwan issue and pointed out that the U.S. arms sales to taiwan had harmed China's core interests and affected the healthy development of bilateral military ties.

Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army General George Casey

The United States should respect China's core interests and properly handle differences and sensitive issues to create conditions for deepening military cooperation, said Chen Bingde.

Casey noted that the strong ties between U.S.-China militaries were not only in the fundamental interests of the two countries, but also conducive to the regional and world peace and security.

The U.S. side hopes to make joint efforts with the Chinese side to keep on pushing forward the development of the bilateral military ties, said Casey.