China’s reclamation work near the contested Spratly Islands has fueled resentment and put Vietnam in a tricky spot, as has recent sparring between Beijing and Washington over freedom of navigation.
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Xi said China rejects that a country should seek hegemony as it grows, and that it wants to deepen cooperation with countries in the region including Vietnam.
But analysts say Xi’s visit is unlikely to strike any progress on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Since then, bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries have been restored and are growing quickly.
Xi said that China’s National People’s Congress and Vietnam’s National Assembly, both playing important role in their countries’ political life, are key bridges to promote the mutual understanding and friendship of the two peoples.
The first major analytical question that arises is the goal of the Chinese President’s visit to Vietnam at this juncture?
“I personally think it’s hard to resolve the issue of territorial disputes when Vietnam and China still maintain their positions”, said Duong Danh Dy, former Vietnamese consul general in Guangzhou, in southern China.
Even if the port call happens, however, the MSDF is unlikely to undertake full-fledged patrols in the waters so as to not alarm China excessively.
Xi ended his trip in Hanoi on Friday after meeting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.
Visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnam’s top leaders agreed on Thursday to manage disputes over the South China Sea amid strained ties made more uncertain by an upcoming reshuffle of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party. In Trong’s visit to China in April, the two parties also inked a plan on party cooperation.
China’s parking of an oil rig unannounced in waters off Vietnam’s coast in May 2014 was widely seen as a miscalculation that has given the United States and allies like Japan an opening to steer Hanoi away from Beijing’s orbit.
The Vietnamese and Chinese governments also inked a cooperation agreement on protecting and tapping the tourism resources of the Ban Gioc – Detian Falls, the two waterfalls that straddle the border between China and Vietnam in Cao Bang Province.
Trade volume between the countries reached $58 billion previous year and is aiming for $100 billion by 2017.
Tan said Singapore not only will participate in the cooperation within the AIIB framework, of which Singapore “is happy to become a founding member”, but it also recognizes the great significance of expanding cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in various areas.
In the first decade (1991-2001), China’s FDI in Vietnam was very modest compared with its total overseas investment.
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Loans for infrastructure had a stronger soft power impact at an earlier stage of Vietnam’s economic development and before Beijing asserted historic claims to 80 percent of the South China Sea.
