WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 -- China and the United States on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to supporting peaceful development of the cross-Strait ties, which benefits not only the peoples of Chinese mainland and Taiwan but also China-U.S. ties.

The two sides made the pledge during a meeting between visiting Chinese mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the State Department.

Zhang, head of China's State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, briefed Burns the current situation relating to the cross-Strait ties and his landmark visit to Taiwan in June this year.

He noted that the past six years witnessed the most fruitful achievement in the development of the cross-Strait ties and the least friction between the two sides, which enabled the peoples across the Taiwan Strait to enjoy the greatest benefit so far.

Zhang recalled that, during his visit to Taiwan as the first Taiwan affairs chief from the Chinese mainland to visit the island in 65 years, he was impressed by the ubiquitous consent and support showed by the general public for peaceful development and sustainable advance of cross-Strait ties.

The Chinese official stressed that the peaceful development of the cross-Strait ties is also conducive to the healthy and stable development of the China-U.S. relations.

He expressed the hope that the United States will contribute positively to enhancing mutual strategic trust and building a new type of major-country ties, by upholding the one-China policy and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, continuing to support the peaceful development of the cross-Strait ties, and properly handling the differences.

For his part, Burns reaffirmed that Washington would continue to uphold the one-China policy and abide by the three joint communiques.

He highly applauded the achievements in the peaceful development of the cross-Strait ties in the past six years, adding that the U.S. welcomes and strongly encourages the two sides to maintain the positive momentum.