A Chinese legislator Tuesday called on nations in the Asia Pacific region to promote mutual understanding and increase consensus to enhance regional security cooperation.

Xu Dunxin, vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress of China, made the call at the 8th Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) which opened in Canberra on Monday.

Xu said that a major task facing the regional security cooperation is to enhance trust and disperse misunderstandings.

To this end, countries should promote mutual understanding in the spirit of mutual respect and seeking common ground while reserving differences.

"This is also the major content and an effective way of regional security cooperation," Xu said.

Xu believed that the regional security cooperation should proceed from the actual conditions in the region, instead of copying models of other regions, adding the regional peace and stability are determined by many factors and most important is that each nation should abide by the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter and other recognized norms guiding international relations.

On the settlement of international disputes, Xu said that peaceful means, instead of resorting to force, is the best way to root out disputes among nations.

"Strengthening military alliances and arms expansion will only increase mistrust and bring about a new round of instabilities or even cause confrontations," he said.

Xu described the overall situation of the region as comparatively stable, with most countries seeking peace, development and cooperation as their common policy preferences.

However, he said, there still exist unstable factors that influence regional politics and security.

Parliamentarians from more than 20 countries are gathering in Canberra for the APPF annual meeting.

Among the issues the delegates discuss are East Timor, the Korean Peninsula, nuclear and missile proliferation in the Asian region, drugs, money laundering and debt relief for poor countries.

First staged in Tokyo in 1993, the APPF seeks to provide opportunities for national parliamentarians of the Asia Pacific region to identify and discuss matters of common concern and interest and to highlight them in a global context. (Xinhua)