Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his U.S. counterpart Hillary Clinton met on Saturday on the sidelines of the fifth East Asia Summit, exchangingviews on bilateral relations and issues of common concern.

Yang said with joint efforts, the Sino-U.S. relations had kept an overall stable momentum for development.

He said China would like to work together with the United States to promote the Sino-U.S. relationship to continuously develop on the positive, cooperative and comprehensive track and create a sound atmosphere for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States early next year.

The minister also reaffirmed China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and urged the United States to act cautiously regarding the highly sensitive issue, respect China's sovereignty and territorial integration, and not to make any irresponsible remarks.

Clinton said her country would like to make joint efforts with China to boost their high-level exchanges and bilateral cooperation in various fields and jointly make preparations for Hu's U.S. visit next year and his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the G20 summit in South Korea next month.

On Thursday, Clinton met with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in Hawaii, saying the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.