State Councilor Dai Bingguo and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by phone Monday on bilateral ties, Vice President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States, and the Syria issue.

The two senior officials agreed 2012 would be an important year for China-U.S. ties.

The two countries should strengthen their dialogue, mutual trust and cooperation, and dedicate themselves, in accordance with important consensus reached by their leaders, to establishing a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit, they said.

Xi's visit is of great importance and would give fresh impetus to the ties, they stressed.

On Monday, Xi left Beijing for official visits to the United States, Ireland and Turkey.

Dai and Clinton also had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on the current Syria situation.

Both of them agreed that all kinds of violence should be immediately stopped and the peace and stability of Syria and the Middle East should be achieved through political settlement.

Dai stressed that the Syria issue was essentially Syria's internal affair. China's position on Syria had been objective and fair, and its attitude was responsible, which was in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations.

He said China's open and aboveboard behaviors could stand the test of history. China backed the efforts of Arab countries to solve the Syria issues through political settlement and would cooperate with the international community to play a constructive role in solving the Syria issue properly.

Clinton said the United States would keep communicating with China on Syria.