BEIJING, Jan 24 (ChinaMil) -- Gen. Xu Qiliang, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), met with the visiting Australian Defense Minister Christopher Pyne in Beijing on the afternoon of Thursday.

Gen. Xu said that China and Australia enjoy a long history of friendship, since the establishment of diplomatic ties 47 years ago, China-Australia relations have made substantial progress. The mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries has promoted their respective development and benefited the two peoples.

Xu said that both China and Australia should review bilateral relations from the perspective of history, overall situation and development, respect each other and rationally view each other's strategic intentions. draw on each other's strength to broaden the path of China-Australia cooperation of mutual benefit and win-win progress.

In recent years, the Chinese and Australian militaries have earnestly implemented the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries , and have witnessed constantly deepened and elevated defense exchange and cooperation in more areas, Xu said.

He hoped the two militaries would work together in the same direction to continuously strengthen strategic communication and all-level contacts, deepen pragmatic exchange and cooperation, serving as a driving force for the advancement of the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership.

Pyne said that Australia attaches great importance to developing relations with China, the military relations between the two countries have maintained a sound and stable momentum of development over the years on the basis of mutual respect.

Australia is willing to work with China to enhance strategic mutual trust and push forward development of bilateral relations between the two countries and their militaries, Pyne said.