China, Vietnam warm up after South China Sea fracas

BEIJING: After months of a diplomatic stand off over the South China Sea dispute, China and Vietnam have warmed up to each other by agreeing to develop bilateral military relations and to properly handle their maritime differences.

Discussions were held here today between Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan and his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh.

During the talks, both sides decided to gradually resume and promote healthy and stable development of bilateral military ties.

Both countries' armed forces should enhance solidarity and provide a strong guarantee for the governing status of the communist parties of the two countries and the cause of socialist construction, a statement said.

Yesterday, Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang met his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung in Milan on the sidelines of Asia Europe summit during which the two agreed to properly deal with bilateral maritime differences and keep bilateral ties on the right track.

Thanks to efforts from both sides, China-Vietnam relations have ridden out the recent rough patch and gradually recovered, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Li as saying.

Li expressed the hope that the two sides will implement the consensus reached by their leaders so as to secure healthy and stable growth of bilateral ties.

The two neighbors, he said, should safeguard the overall direction of the development of their relations, and properly address and control maritime differences, so as to create necessary and favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation.

Since May, the relations between the two Communist neighbours reached a low point after China deployed an oil rig in the resource-rich South China Sea which sparked off anti-China riots in Vietnam in which over a 100 Chinese were injured and hundreds of Chinese factories were destroyed.

China also recalled over 7,000 of its workers for their safety.