Spratlys dispute raised during Wen's Vietnam visit, China says
HANOI - China and Vietnam discussed the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea today during a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, China said, after Vietnam said it was ``deeply concerned'' by a new accord regarding the disputed area.
The China National Offshore Corp. and the Philippine National Oil Co. last month signed a ``scientific research'' agreement calling for a joint seismic study of the area to gather and process data on subjects such as tectonics. The area is surrounded ``potentially by oil and gas deposits,'' according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. That agreement and others dealing with the islands, signed during a visit to China last month by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, were reached without consulting other parties, said Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, which asked for details of the accord. The dispute is the latest between the two neighbors over the area, parts of which are also claimed by Malaysia and Taiwan. ``That question was raised,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in an interview today in Hanoi. ``We don't have total agreement on this issue.''
More Talks
Both sides agreed to further discussions on the Spratlys, Zhang said. ``This is an issue where we don't see eye-to-eye,'' Zhang said. ``But we feel it's important whenever there's an issue or something we don't agree upon we can discuss it in a friendly and frank way.''
In May, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that a Vietnamese project to build an airport on islands it occupies in the Spratlys was a ``violation of China's territorial integrity,'' as well as ``illegal and null,'' according to the Web site of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. ``Anyone who can show evidence of effective administrative occupation and control has stronger claims to the territory,'' said Mark Valencia, a Hawaii-based expert on maritime policy and boundary disputes, in a telephone interview last month. ``If it ever comes to a legal solution, it's more useful to bolster your case.''
Still, ``Vietnam and China did reach an agreement in the Gulf of Tonkin, so they seem to be more amicable than in the past,'' Valencia said, referring to an agreement reached by the two countries in 2000 establishing boundaries and economic zones in the body of water they share.
Fertilizer, Rail
During Wen's visit today, the two countries signed several accords, including agreements to cooperate on the building of a fertilizer plant in the northern province of Ninh Binh and on the building of a commuter rail line from Hanoi to the suburb of Ha Dong. Vietnam's imports of fertilizer jumped 23 percent in the first nine months of this year to $492 million, according to the General Statistics Office.
The commuter rail line would supplement a plan to build a tram system in Hanoi, to which France yesterday pledged 165 million euros ($203 million) in loans and grants during a visit to Hanoi by French President Jacques Chirac. The project will cost 310 million euros overall, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Normal relations between China and Vietnam were restored in the early 1990s, a decade after the two Communist-ruled countries fought a border war. Wen's visit was his first to the country since he became premier last year, according to the Chinese government's People's Daily Online. ``We view it as a crucial political event for Vietnam,'' said Nguyen Van An, chairman of Vietnam's national assembly, when greeting Wen today. ``The visit by the premier marks a new milestone.''
By Jason Folkmanis - Bloomberg - October 7, 2004
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