South China Sea: Beijing, Hanoi try to navigate differences as territorial disputes ripple

Top diplomats reaffirm commitment to 20-year-old conduct agreement, promise strengthened trade ties
China’s Wang Yi says both sides should be ‘wary of creating camp confrontations in the region’

China-Asean relations

Cyril Ip

Published: 6:23pm, 5 Apr 2024

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China and Vietnam were treading lightly on maritime issues during Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son’s latest visit to Beijing, with the two sides reaffirming their commitment to a 20-year-old conduct agreement and promising to bolster trade ties.

The talks between Son and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi came amid elevated tensions in the South China Sea, including the revival of the two countries’ territorial dispute in the Gulf of Tonkin and clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the region. It also came after the sudden departure of Vietnam’s president, Vo Van Thuong.

Xi tells Vietnam it is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as he seeks to strengthen ties

At the meeting on Thursday, Wang reiterated that China considers Vietnam a priority diplomatic partner and wants to work with Vietnam to “jointly promote the solid development of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future”.

China and Vietnam should “properly manage differences, accelerate maritime cooperation and consultation on the South China Sea Code of Conduct, and resolve conflicts and differences through win-win cooperation”, Wang said, according to a statement from his ministry.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son speaks during a meeting at the US State Department on March 25 in Washington. Photo: AP

The code of conduct will be based on the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea/South China Sea, which was signed between China and regional states at a 2002 Asean summit in Cambodia. The terms included commitments on encouraged and restrained behaviours in the waters.

In a veiled shot at the United States, Wang also stressed that the neighbouring states should be “wary of creating camp confrontations in the region” and “cobbling together various ‘small circles’ to undermine regional peace and stability”.

US ship’s Vietnam port call ‘positive’ commitment to peace in South China Sea

The Vietnamese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, Nhan Dan, similarly reported that the two sides “underlined the importance of seriously implementing the agreements and common perceptions reached between the two parties and countries’ leaders on properly controlling and settling differences”.

There was no mention of the recent stand-off between coastguard vessels from China and the Philippines near Second Thomas Shoal, but the report said China and Vietnam did agree to join Asean countries in “promoting negotiations and soon finalising a substantive, efficient and effective code of conduct in the waters” in accordance with relevant laws.

Wang also pledged to strengthen “high-level strategic communication”, and continue expanding cooperation in economic and trade investment, the digital economy, green development, new energy, and production of key minerals.

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Chinese floating barrier blocks entrance to Philippine ships at South China Sea flashpoint

Also on Thursday, it was announced that the chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly, Vuong Dinh Hue, will lead a delegation to China for an official visit from April 7-12.

Wang and Son last met in December in Hanoi, at the 15th meeting of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, which was created when the two countries established their “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”.

Thursday’s meeting followed a visit to Washington by Son, which was seen as an effort to assure world leaders that the sudden resignation of Vo, the Vietnamese president, would not be destabilising. Son said Hanoi “wishes [to] and can have good relations with all major powers, thanks to Vietnam’s ‘bamboo diplomacy’”.

Vietnam minister credits ‘bamboo diplomacy’ for good relations with China and US

Vietnamese Communist Party diplomatic chief Le Hoai Trung also visited Beijing last week, meeting Wang and other Chinese officials. The talks were focused on economic cooperation and the friendship shared between the two countries’ ruling communist parties, during which Wang pledged to “intensify high-level exchanges”.

Hanoi has been juggling its relationships with “brother” Beijing and former foe Washington, guided by its strategic “Four Noes” policy: no partaking in military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign military bases in Vietnamese territory, and no use of force in international relations.

Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden were guests in Hanoi last year. During his stopover, Xi offered a total of 37 bilateral deals involving railways and telecommunications, while the US upgraded its ties with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership.