WASHINGTON, June 12 -- China will work closely with the United States to ensure a full success of Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the country in September, a top Chinese general said.

In a meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice at the White House on Friday, Fan Chonglong, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, said both China and the United States attach great importance to Xi's visit, which he called the most important event in the development of the China-U.S. ties this year.

The general, who is satisfied with the generally steady development of the bilateral ties, pledged that China will make joint efforts with the U.S. to create "a positive atmosphere" so as to ensure Xi's visit a great success.

He commended the progress made in varied areas of the China-U.S. military ties, while proposing the two sides actively seek to build up a new type of military relationship based on "mutual trust, cooperation, non-conflict and sustainability" through increasing exchanges, conducting pragmatic cooperation and managing risks as well as crises.

For her part, Rice agreed with Fan's assessment of the current state of the overall China-U.S. ties and the military-to-military relationship. She said the United States is looking forward to Xi's visit and the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held in Washington late this month.

She said the United States highly values the communications and coordination between the two sides on dealing with issues such as the Iranian nuclear talks, counterterrorism, climate change, and fighting the Ebola epidemic, which she said demonstrated the basis and capability for the two countries to conduct cooperation on key issues.