Beijing - China on Saturday said it had made little progress in military talks with the United States, but both sides promised to continue dialogue.

"Frankly speaking, it will take a long time to restore our military exchanges as not a single obstacle in military ties has been removed so far," Major General Qian Lihua, the foreign affairs director of China's defence ministry, told the official Xinhua news agency.

"The Taiwan issue remains China's core interest and concern," said Qian, who co-chaired talks on Friday with David Sedney, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia.

"China wants the US to stop arms sales to Taiwan and pushes peaceful ties across the (Taiwan) Strait with practical measures," Qian said after the first Sino-US military talks under US President Barack Obama's new administration.

The US embassy said the talks "provided an opportunity to further the dialogue with the PLA (People's Liberation Army) on areas of shared interest and mutual benefit."

"The US seeks a positive and cooperative relationship with China, and in that context welcomed the invitation and the progress achieved (during the talks)," the embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

It said the two sides had discussed "challenges to regional and global security, and explored areas for expanding cooperation between the two militaries."

"Sedney discussed with the Chinese the importance of continuous dialogue, based on open and substantive discussions of strategic issues, to build understanding, improve relations and reduce the risk of miscalculation," it said.

Among the international issues covered were developments in South and Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, it said.

The talks were the first since China halted all military exchanges with the United States last October following a 6.5-billion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan under the previous administration of George W Bush. (dpa)