China seeks closer ties with Vietnam, Southeast Asian neighbours as tensions rise with US
- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi calls for more economic cooperation in talks with Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh
- Beijing has also finalised negotiations for a free-trade pact with Cambodia
“Facing the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam and China have strengthened our friendship to support each other,” Wang said during the meeting with Pham, citing a phone call between President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong six months ago.
“We have both successfully controlled the outbreak and we will continue to build up our economic and trade cooperation,” he said.
02:32
Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
Their meeting was expected to cover a wide range of topics, including the contentious maritime disputes, according to Xu Liping, an expert with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “It occurs against the backdrop that relevant parties have intensified their wrangling as talks over the code of conduct in the South China Sea between China and [Asean] are entering a critical stage,” he said.
Beijing and its Southeast Asian neighbours have been discussing the rule-setting document for years, which China hopes to finalise by 2021. But the talks have been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the countries remain deeply divided over how to clearly define their contested claims and how to settle future disputes.
With uncertainties over those talks, Vietnam was keen to use its position as this year’s Asean chair and the harder US line on the South China Sea to counter Beijing, according to Xu.
03:23
The South China Sea dispute explained
“We believe the members of Asean will be able to see through America’s conspiracy of playing the South China Sea card, continue to adopt an independent approach on foreign policy, and work together with China to push for the early completion of the code of conduct negotiations,” he said in a meeting with representatives from Asean, Japan and South Korea, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.
Zhu Feng, executive director of the China Centre for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea at Nanjing University, said Asean countries had been caught in the crossfire between China and the US.
“We are witnessing exacerbated tensions in the region and our priority now is how to manage the crisis and prevent dangerous military confrontations,” he said.