State Councilor Yang Jiechi said on Thursday that China and the United States should enhance dialogue and mutual trust, and work together to explore a new type of inter-power relationship.

To that end, it is very important for the two sides to maintain high-level visits and contacts, Yang said during a phone call to US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Yang also noted that the China-US relationship is in a new era.

Kerry said his country highly values its relations with China and hopes to strengthen dialogue with China.

Kerry said that he is expecting to visit China soon.

The two also exchanged views on issues such as the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

In Washington, Cui Tiankai, China's new ambassador to the US, said there is growing mutual trust between the two countries, and China is committed to seeking a new type of inter-power relationship.

Cui, who met Kerry earlier on Wednesday, told reporters that he does not agree with the so-called deficit of trust between China and the US. Instead, he believed mutual trust is growing.

"We have worked together on so many issues, and on some of these issues we will certainly have different interests and have different policies," he said, "but still we have managed these issues quite well and the overall relationship is still developing.

"Maybe the level of confidence is not as high as we would like to see, but it is certainly growing," he added.

"Of course there would be difficulties and problems we have to face. But I think both sides have displayed a determination to work together, to solve these problems and difficulties, and to respond to any possible challenges," Cui said.

When asked about the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Cui reiterated that a diplomatic solution is "the only feasible and viable option on the table.

"There is no other alternative. And between China and the United States, between China and other partners of the Six-Party Talks, we have to work together for a peaceful solution to the issue," he said.

(China Daily 04/05/2013 page2)