July 30, 2010  Print Email | China and Vietnam to set up leaders' hotline
A peaceful approach to maritime concerns
Posted by Agencies at 09:05 AM GMT on Mar 20, 2009 | HANOI (Reuters): Vietnam and China are to set up an encrypted hotline for their leaders and have reiterated their commitment to settle maritime disputes peacefully, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.
The hotline agreement was reached during a visit to Hanoi by Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo yesterday, the day a Chinese newspaper quoted a senior maritime official as saying Beijing would step up patrols around disputed islands in the South China Sea.
"The two sides agreed that in the future they would focus negotiations on maritime issues to maintain peace and stability at sea," the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said in a posting on its website (www.mofa.gov.vn) seen today.
China and Vietnam would "strengthen cooperation in appropriate fields and strive with the related parties for a fundamental, long-term, acceptable solution to maritime issues".
China also agreed to provide preferential credit worth $300 million to Vietnam, it said. A Vietnamese newspaper said the money was for importers of Chinese goods.
On Thursday, the China Daily newspaper quoted the director of the Administration of Fishery and Fishing Harbour Supervision of the South China Sea as saying China may convert more naval vessels into fishery patrol boats in the face of growing illegal fishing and "unfounded territorial claims".
There was no mention of the report in the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry statement and a request for a direct comment yesterday was not answered.
Late last year, China and Vietnam completed an agreement on the demarcation of their land border, but maritime territory remains in dispute. Both countries, as well as Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, claim part or all of the Spratly and Paracel island chains, which are thought to lie near significant oil and gas deposits.
The South China Sea, called the East Sea in Vietnam, is the shortest route between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, and has some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. More than half of global oil tanker traffic passes through the area.
The strategic importance and long-running territorial disputes have led to naval clashes. Just last week Chinese patrol vessels jostled with a US navy surveillance ship off the island province of Hainan.
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