China's President Xi Jinping calls for 'new approach' to territorial dispute with Vietnam
President tells visiting Vietnamese Communist Party chief of need to 'jointly manage and control maritime disputes' and 'deepen cooperation'
President Xi Jinping called on the visiting Vietnam Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong on Tuesday to explore a "new approach" to solving the two countries' disputes.
Xi, the Chinese Communist Party's general secretary, told Trong at the Great Hall of the People that the two countries must manage their dispute over the South China Sea to maintain peace and stability.
Vietnam has long been suspicious of Beijing's increasingly assertive claims to most of the South China Sea.
Anti-Chinese violence flared in Vietnam last year after a deepwater rig owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation was set up 240km off the Vietnamese coast.
Since then, however, China has sought to make amends with Vietnam, and has sent senior officials to Hanoi.
Xi said ties between the two countries and the two communist parties faced new opportunities as well as challenges.
"We have to deepen the cooperation of our two parties, explore new approaches to solve the problems in the two countries' relations, as well as find new paradigms in advancing our bilateral ties," Xi said.