Vietnam, China sign land border agreement
HANOI - Vietnam and China signed a
long-awaited land border agreement on Thursday, bringing an
end to years of dispute over the territorial marker.
Vietnam Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam and his Chinese
counterpart Tang Jiaxuan signed the deal, which covers 1,200
km (750 miles) of shared border, at a ceremony in Hanoi.
Officials said the two sides would now focus on resolving
territorial issues in the Tonkin Gulf in 2000.
The Tonkin Gulf lies off northern Vietnam and southern China.
Hanoi and Beijing also have competing claims over the Spratly
and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea.
Tang arrived in Hanoi on Thursday and will return to Beijing on
Friday.
The land border agreement covers some 70 disputed areas, but
officials gave few details of the signed deal.
Leaders on both sides had previously set a year-end deadline
for signing the agreement.
Vietnam and China have a long history of animosity despite their
ideological and cultural similarities.
Chinese troops poured southwards across the land border in
1979 to punish Hanoi for toppling the Khmer Rouge regime in
Cambodia, which at the time was a China ally. The conflict
inflicted heavy casualties on both sides.
Tensions still flare occasionally over the competing sovereignty
claims, especially in the South China Sea.
Reuters - December 30, 1999.
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