PARTY-TO-PARTY TIES: Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, meets Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, in Beijing on October 11 (ZHANG DUO)

China and Viet Nam vowed to strengthen maritime cooperation in "less sensitive fields" in disputed waters in the South China Sea. These fields include marine environmental protection, scientific research, search and rescue, and disaster reduction and prevention.

This pledge is part of an agreement on the basic principles guiding the settlement of maritime issues between the two countries signed during a recent visit of Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, to China.

During his visit, Trong held talks with Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Premier Wen Jiabao.

He also visited Zhongguancun, a hi-tech development zone in Beijing, and spent three days in south China's Guangdong Province, calling for stronger economic ties between the province and Viet Nam.

Trong's visit, from October 11-15, not only helped the two countries ease their maritime disputes, but also gave a boost to bilateral cooperation across the board, said Chinese analysts.

Maritime issues

"The biggest achievement of Trong's visit was the signing of the agreement on the basic principles guiding the settlement of maritime issues between China and Viet Nam, which is significant for relieving the two countries' territorial disputes in the South China Sea," said Chu Hao, an assistant research fellow with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

The agreement made it clear that the long-term development of Sino-Vietnamese relations should be put above maritime issues. This is an important step forward, said Chu in an interview with Beijing Review.

"The agreement reflects the common political willingness of both sides to properly handle and resolve maritime issues," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin.

It also showed the two countries have the capability and determination to solve their maritime disputes through consultations, he said.

China and Viet Nam signed the agreement in Beijing on October 11. The six-point agreement is in accordance with the consensus reached by the leaders of China and Viet Nam and is based on a 1993 agreement on the basic principles for resolving territorial and border issues between the two countries.

China and Viet Nam should remain committed to friendly consultations in order to properly handle maritime issues and make the South China Sea a "sea of peace, friendship and cooperation," the agreement said.

In the meantime, the agreement showed China's stance of peaceful development. A major reason why the South China Sea issue has flared up is many Southeast Asian countries hold suspicion and anxiety about China's rise, Chu said.

The signing of this agreement reaffirmed China's policy of peaceful development. The move can promote China's national image in Southeast Asia as well as its cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, he added.

The agreement is not only conducive to addressing maritime disputes between China and Viet Nam but will also have positive implications for the resolution of the South China Sea issue, said Zhang Jie, a researcher with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The South China Sea issue centers on the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands, a network of islands that stretches 1,000 km from north to south in the southeastern corner of the South China Sea. China has exercised jurisdiction over the islands throughout history. In the early 1970s after the region was found to be rich in oil and other natural resources, however, Southeast Asian countries including Viet Nam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei began to claim sovereignty over all or part of the islands.