Mutual interests outweigh our differences, Chinese President Xi Jinping tells visiting Vietnamese PM

Common interests between China and Vietnam far outweighed differences, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Vietnam’s prime minister on Tuesday, calling for their dispute in the South China Sea to be resolved through talks.

Meeting in Beijing, Xi told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that “China and Vietnam can manage their differences and promote maritime cooperation through friendly negotiations”, Xinhua reported.

The question facing Vietnam’s PM on his first China visit: how close to get to Beijing

“The common interests ­between the two countries far outweigh the differences,” it paraphrased Xi as saying.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, where about US$5 trillion worth of seaborne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims in the sea, believed to have rich deposits of oil and gas.

A court of arbitration in The Hague in July said China’s claims to the waterway were invalid, after a case was brought by the Philippines. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling.

Vietnam welcomed the ruling, saying it strongly supported peaceful resolution of disputes, while reasserting its own sovereignty claims.