China and Vietnam issued a joint communiqué Thursday in Beijing,
pledging to further strengthen their good-neighborly and all-round
cooperative relations.
The communiqué was signed during Vietnamese President Tran Duc
Luong's state visit to China from July 18 to 22 at the invitation
of Chinese President Hu
Jintao.
The communiqué, covering a wide range of issues, states that the
two sides are pleased to see the growth of relations between the
Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam. The
bilateral relations maintain a good momentum of development under
the guidelines of "long-term stability, orientation toward the
future, good neighborhood and all-round cooperation".
The communiqué includes the following points:
The two sides agree to maintain high-level official contacts,
increase mutual understanding and trust and further strengthen the
friendly exchanges and cooperation for mutual benefit in various
fields to take bilateral ties to a new level.
The contracted cooperation project should be launched as soon as
possible and long-term cooperation on major infrastructure and
industrial projects between Chinese and Vietnamese enterprises will
be encouraged to enhance the level and quality of the
cooperation.
The two sides also agree to coordinate efforts to finish the
study report on two economic corridors connecting the two countries
and an economic zone around Beibu Bay as soon as possible.
Negotiations on bilateral market access concerning Vietnam's
entrance into the World Trade Organization are complete.
Vietnam appreciates China's support in this respect.
Demarcation work of the land border has made remarkable
progress. The process will be speeded up and a new agreement on
borderline administration will be signed before 2008.
The two sides positively appraised the implementation of the
agreement on the demarcation of Beibu Bay and the agreement on
fishery cooperation. Both agree to continue to implement the two
agreements seriously to maintain law and order at sea and an
orderly fishery production, and start cooperation on cross-border
exploration of oil and gas field structures as soon as
possible.
The two sides highly appreciated the landmark tripartite
agreement signed by three oil companies from China, Vietnam and the
Philippines to jointly prospect oil and gas resources in the South
China Sea, believing the agreement will have a positive influence
on maintaining maritime stability.
The two sides agreed to follow the purposes and principles of
the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the South China Sea
signed by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), and abide by the consensus reached between the two sides
and multilateral commitments, aiming at safeguarding stability in
the South China Sea. The two sides also agreed to maintain the
negotiation mechanism for maritime issues, and seek basic and
long-term resolutions that are acceptable to both sides through
peaceful negotiation.
Vietnam reiterated its adherence to the one-China policy, its
support for China's cause of national reunification, and its
opposition to any activity aimed at separating Taiwan from
China.
Vietnam understands and supports China's Anti-Secession Law and
welcomes the recent relaxation trend across the Taiwan Straits,
adding that Vietnam will only conduct non-governmental economic and
trade exchanges with Taiwan and never develop any official ties
with Taiwan.
President Tran also invited President Hu to attend the 14th APEC
Economic Leaders Meeting to be held in Hanoi in 2006. President Hu
accepted the invitation.
(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2005)