China, Vietnam premiers promise talks over maritime spats

Oct 16, 2009, 10:32 GMT

   Beijing - The premiers of China and Vietnam on Friday pledged to resolve spats over areas of the South China Sea and other border disputes through negotations.

   'China attaches great importance to the relationship with Vietnam and will maintain high-level contact, enhance political mutual trust with Vietnam and properly handle border and South China Sea issues,' China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state media quoted Prime Minister Wen Jiabao as saying.

   Wen told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that China would work with Vietnam to tackle the global financial crisis, promote trade, and speed up links with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the reports said.

   Dung was quoted as saying Vietnam also wanted to 'properly settle the South China Sea issue and other problems via friendly negotiation with China, so as to preserve the development of bilateral ties.'

   The building of a 'comprehensive strategic partnership' with China was Vietnam's 'unswerving policy,' he was quoted as saying.

   Wen and Dung met in the south-western city of Chengdu, where they attended a forum on the economic development of China's relatively poor, landlocked western regions.

   In the latest maritime incident between the two nations, Vietnamese officials on Wednesday accused Chinese naval forces of mistreating Vietnamese fishermen who tried to take shelter from a typhoon in the disputed Paracel Islands.

   Nguyen Viet Thang, chairman of the Vietnam Fishery Association, said his organization was preparing an official protest to China over the incidents.

   Thang confirmed local media reports that Vietnamese fishermen were fired on when they tried to land in the Paracels to escape Typhoon Ketsana in late September, and, after sheltering on the islands for several days, were robbed and beaten by Chinese forces before leaving. He called the actions 'unacceptable.'

   The islands are claimed by Vietnam, China and several other South-East Asian nations.

   Tensions over sovereignty in the South China Sea have risen since May, when regional countries submitted their territorial claims to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Beijing rejected submissions by Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries as violating its own claims in the area.