BEIJING -?Top US military officer Mike Mullen on Sunday visited the Second Artillery Force Headquarters of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The visit came as the PLA's strategic missile force further increases its transparency to foreign armed forces. In January, then US Defense Secretary Robert Gates also visited the headquarters.

Jing Zhiyuan, commander of the PLA Second Artillery Force, met with Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Sunday.

Jing said the state-to-state and military-to-military relations between China and the United States maintained sound development momentum this year.

Early this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a state visit to the United States, during which he reached consensus with his US counterpart Barack Obama on jointly building a China-US partnership featuring mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.

"Such a strategic position also delineates China-US military relations," Jing said.

Jing hoped the two sides to earnestly implement the consensus and continuously increase dialogues and communications so as to maintain the current good momentum between the two militaries.

Mullen hoped the two sides to continue to strengthen exchanges between the two nuclear strategic forces.

Mullen was here as guest of Chen Bingde, chief of the PLA General Staff, for a four-day tour.

Besides the Second Artillery Force, Mullen is also scheduled to visit China's air and naval bases out of Beijing.