Respect each other's legitimate interests in South China Sea, Vietnam tells China

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn had with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on July 4. — VNA/VNS

BAGAN (Vietnam News/Asia News Network): Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn had a meeting with Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday (July 4) as the two participated in the 7th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Bagan, Myanmar.

During their talks, both sides highly valued the progress of the Vietnam-China relations over the years with regular high-level meetings and stably growing trade partnership.

Sơn affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam always attached great importance to the friendship and cooperation with China, and hoped to promote the relations between the two Parties and countries in a healthy, sustainable and long-term manner with increasing political trust and effective collaboration.

He proposed that both sides actively increase visits and meetings at all levels, and China continue to create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese products, especially farm produce and seafood, to be exported to China and to a third country through China.

Both sides should coordinate closely in Covid-19 control, resuming commercial flights between the two countries and strengthening transport infrastructure connections, making it easier for people of both sides to travel between the two countries, said Sơn.

For his part, Wang affirmed that the Party and State of China paid great attention to reinforcing and developing the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with Vietnam, and hoped to work with Vietnam to strengthen mutual political trust and deepen their win-win partnership, satisfactorily settling disagreements, and making the relationship between the two Parties and countries further develop in a healthy and stable manner for the interests of both sides.

He affirmed that China was willing to coordinate with Việt Nam to increase exchanges and meetings at all levels through many flexible methods. China aimed to open its market for high-quality products from regional countries, especially Asean nations, he said.

China highly valued the role of Việt Nam in the global supply chain and hoped to work closely with the country in economy, trade and investment to ensure the stability of the global supply chain.

Regarding the South China Sea (known in Vietnam as East Sea) issue, foreign minister Sơn said both sides needed to continue to effectively implement the high-level agreements and common perspectives that had been reached; respect each other's legitimate interests in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos); fully and effectively carry out the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) towards a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) on the waters with conformity to international law, thus together maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Wang affirmed that China hoped to deal with disagreements through dialogue and negotiation, and was willing to work with Asean to implement the DOC and soon finalise the COC for peace, stability and maritime freedom.

Both sides also discussed a number of international and regional issues of shared concern.