Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Tuesday held telephone talks with US secretary of state John Kerry on bilateral ties.

Congratulating Kerry on his appointment as the new secretary of state, Yang said that, under the guidance of the two countries' leaders and with concerted efforts from both sides, China-US relations had made steady progress over the past four years.

Currently, bilateral ties stood at a crucial juncture that linked past and future and were faced with fresh opportunities for further development, Yang said.

China stood ready to work with the US to promote a cooperative partnership featuring mutual respect, mutual benefit and a win-win outcome and explore ways to foster a new type of inter-power relations, he said.

The two sides needed to maintain high-level exchanges, enhance dialogue, respect and accommodate each other's core interests and main concerns, advance mutual trust, expand cooperation and boost contacts and communication on major issues so as to better safeguard regional and world peace, stability and development, he said.

Kerry highlighted the importance of US-China relations.

The United States was willing to advance exchanges and cooperation with China in the Asia-Pacific region to achieve a win-win outcome and maintain contacts and coordination on major regional and global issues, said Kerry, who started Monday his first day at the State Department as the country's 68th secretary of state.

Yang and Kerry also exchanged views on international and regional issues.