China and Vietnam were good socialist neighbours with a long-shared history of revolutionary friendship and should be able to dispel and survive any “disruptions” in relations, visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping said in Hanoi yesterday.
The two communist-led states have competing claims in the South China Sea, which came to a head last year when Beijing parked an oil rig in waters off the Vietnamese coast, leading to anti-China riots.
Both agreed yesterday to maintain peace in the sea and build a relationship of trust.
But trust may not come so easily. As Xi prepared to leave Hanoi, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Vietnam had invited a Japanese warship to visit its strategic Cam Ranh Bay base on the South China Sea and to hold their first joint naval exercises.
Such an offer for special access is likely to antagonise China, which also has fierce maritime rivalry with Japan in the East China Sea.
Xi’s visit is timely, coming during uncertainty over what kind of Vietnamese leader will emerge from January’s five-yearly congress of a ruling communist party traditionally close to Beijing, but now getting unprecedented Western attention, from the United States in particular.
In his speech to Vietnam’s National Assembly, Xi referred to Vietnam’s independence hero Ho Chi Minh and his amity with the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, and their similar political systems.
“China and Vietnam are joined by mountains and water and the friendship between our two peoples goes back to ancient times,” Xi said.
China’s land reclamation work on reefs near the contested Spratly Islands has fuelled resentment in Vietnam and put leaders in a difficult position, pressured from nationalists and even some party members to take a tougher line, but wary of upsetting Beijing.
China works to shore up Vietnam ties
The two communist-led states have competing claims in the South China Sea, which came to a head last year when Beijing parked an oil rig in waters off the Vietnamese coast, leading to anti-China riots.
Both agreed yesterday to maintain peace in the sea and build a relationship of trust.
But trust may not come so easily. As Xi prepared to leave Hanoi, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Vietnam had invited a Japanese warship to visit its strategic Cam Ranh Bay base on the South China Sea and to hold their first joint naval exercises.
Such an offer for special access is likely to antagonise China, which also has fierce maritime rivalry with Japan in the East China Sea.
Xi’s visit is timely, coming during uncertainty over what kind of Vietnamese leader will emerge from January’s five-yearly congress of a ruling communist party traditionally close to Beijing, but now getting unprecedented Western attention, from the United States in particular.
In his speech to Vietnam’s National Assembly, Xi referred to Vietnam’s independence hero Ho Chi Minh and his amity with the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong, and their similar political systems.
“China and Vietnam are joined by mountains and water and the friendship between our two peoples goes back to ancient times,” Xi said.
China’s land reclamation work on reefs near the contested Spratly Islands has fuelled resentment in Vietnam and put leaders in a difficult position, pressured from nationalists and even some party members to take a tougher line, but wary of upsetting Beijing.
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