Seven suggestions from Xi: Chinese leader calls on Vietnam to boost military and maritime ties among raft of proposals
President urges settlement of territorial disputes as China agrees deals worth more than ¥1 billion
President Xi Jinping called on China and Vietnam to increase military and maritime cooperation as he began a trip to the communist neighbour yesterday, stressing the proper settlement of territorial disputes amid friction in the South China Sea.
Xi, the first Chinese president to visit Hanoi in 10 years, said he hoped for a higher-level partnership with Vietnam and pledged to support the rule of its Communist Party as he received a 21-gun salute at the Presidential Palace.
Analysts said the grand welcome was a sign Hanoi still needed Beijing to support its long-term political and economic development despite moves by the United States to strengthen its presence in the region. In July, US President Barack Obama pledged to visit Vietnam "soon".
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In his talks with Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, Xi raised seven proposals to boost ties between Beijing and Hanoi, and vowed to support Vietnam on the socialist path of development.
"The two sides should push for maritime cooperation," he was quoted as saying by state-run CCTV.
"Both sides should properly resolve their disputes in maritime issues through mutual consultation, cooperation and development."
They should also boost cooperation in military affairs, United Nations peacekeeping, cybersecurity and international affairs.
China would increase investment and trade in Vietnam, Xi added.
Trong told Xi the two countries should not allow territorial disputes to affect their relations, and neither should increase tensions or militarisation of the South China Sea, Vietnam's foreign ministry said.
The two nations signed a series of agreements after the talks between Xi and Trong.
China will give one billion yuan (US$157.47 million) in development assistance over the next five years to help Vietnam build more schools and hospitals, US$250 million in a preferential loan to a urban railway project in Hanoi, and US$300 million to a highway project in Quang Ninh province.
The two sides also signed agreements on the navigation of vessels in the Ka Long River, which connects Guangxi in China to Quang Ninh in Vietnam.
Xi's visit comes amid heightening tensions in the South China Sea, after the American vessel USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese man-made island in the Spratly Islands.
Vietnam and the Philippines have expressed strong opposition to China's island building in the disputed waters.
However, in a move seen as boosting ties, Xi will deliver a speech to the Vietnamese National Assembly today.
Ha Huy Thong, deputy director of the Parliament Foreign Relations Committee, expected Xi to use his speech to explain China's stance on its relationship with Vietnam.
"The most important thing is that he will talk directly to the members of parliament … channelling [his message] to the Vietnamese constituency they represent," Thong said.
Both sides should properly resolve their disputes in maritime issues through mutual consultation, cooperation and development
Bilateral relations between Beijing and Hanoi plunged to a low point last year following China's deployment of an oil rig near the Paracel Islands in an area Vietnam claims is within its exclusive economic zone.
The move sparked anti-China protests in Vietnam.
But both sides have been trying to repair ties with high-level contacts over the past months. Trong visited Beijing in April.
Zhang Mingliang, a Southeast Asian affairs expert at Jinan University, said it was impossible for either side to make major concessions over the territorial disputes, but both realised the importance of mending ties.
"China and Vietnam share communist ideology, with Hanoi being clear that only Beijing will help it to sustain its regime when it is facing challenges like the Jasmine Revolution," he said.
Zhang Jie, a regional security expert at the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Vietnam would not allow anti-China sentiment to rise, and Hanoi would not get too close to Washington.
