BEIJING, June 28 (ChinaMil) -- Gen. Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), met with the visiting US Secretary of Defense James Mattis in Beijing on Thursday.

Xu said, President Xi Jinping pointed out that there are "a thousand reasons" to make China-US ties work and "no reason" to break it. The important consensuses on developing the relations between the two countries and two militaries reached by President Xi and President Trump provided us the strategic guidance. The nearly 40 years’ practice since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US has truly demonstrated that cooperation benefited both whereas conflict served neither’s interest, Xu added.

Xu also expressed his hope that the two sides would further enhance mutual trust, deepen cooperation, deal with differences properly, manage and control risks, jointly promote the development of bilateral military relationship, try to make the bilateral military relations a stabilizer of the relations between the two countries, and contribute to regional and world peace and stability.

Mattis said the US-China cooperation has been the mainstream in history, and the two militaries have played significant roles in the bilateral relations. “We are confident to work with China to build the constructive relations between the two militaries,” he added.

The two sides also exchanged in-depth views on Asia-Pacific situation, Taiwan and other issues.

Xu Qiliang reviewed the history of the South China Sea and stressed that South China Sea islands have been China's inherent territory since ancient times, and any inch of territory passed down from ancestors cannot be lost. He urged the US side to respect historical facts and China's sovereign rights and interests, and that the two sides should strengthen communication and dialogue, properly manage and control differences, and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.