China, Vietnam issue joint communique

China and Vietnam issued a joint communique in Beijing on July 21, pledging to further strengthen their good-neighborly and all-round cooperative relations.

The communique was signed during Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong's state visit to China from July 18 to 22 at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The communique says the two presidents had an in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and other international and regional issues of common concern and reached broad consensus.

The two sides believe that President Tran Duc Luong's China visit is very successful, which will push forward China-Vietnam good-neighborly and all-round cooperative relations, the communique says.

It says the two sides are pleased to see the growth of relations between the two countries and the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam. The bilateral relations maintain a good momentum of development under the guidelines of "long-term stability, orientation toward the future, good neighborhood and all-round cooperation".

The two sides agreed to maintain high-level official contacts, increase mutual understanding and trust and further strengthen the friendly exchanges and cooperation for mutual benefit in various fields to promote the bilateral ties to a new phase, the communique says.

According to the communique, the two sides are satisfied with the development of China-Vietnam trade and economic relations and agreed to expand the two-way trade volume in a positive and pragmatic spirit to gradually reduce the imbalance in the bilateral trade.

The contracted cooperation project should be launched at an early date and long-term cooperation on major infrastructure and industrial projects between the Chinese and Vietnamese enterprises will be encouraged to enhance the level and quality of the cooperation, the communique says.

It also stresses that the two sides should coordinate closely to finish the study report on two economic corridors connecting the two countries and an economic zone around Beibu Bay as soon as possible.

Obstacles and problems in the bilateral trade and economic cooperation should be timely addressed to create more favorable conditions for the enterprises of the two countries to expand their cooperation, the communique adds.

The two sides also declared in the communique that they have completed the negotiation on bilateral market access concerning Vietnam's entrance into the World Trade Organization, and believed the event will help open a new vista for the bilateral cooperation especially in trade and economic fields.

The Vietnamese side highly appreciates the support from China, the communique says.

The two sides recognized that the demarcation work of the land borderline between them has made remarkable progress, and agreed to further accelerate the process, in order to finish this work and sign a new agreement on borderline administration before 2008.

The two sides positively appraised the implementation of the agreement on the demarcation of Beibu Bay and the agreement on fishery cooperation, the communique says, noting that they agreed to continue to implement the two agreements seriously in a bid to make joint efforts to maintain law and order at sea and orderly fishery production, and start cooperation on cross-border exploration of oil and gas field structures as soon as possible.

Between now and the end of 2005, the two sides will conduct joint investigation on fishery resources in joint fishing areas, so as to strive for launching joint patrol in Beibu Bay by the two navies and start the negotiation on the demarcation of the sea areas beyond the mouth of Beibu Bay as early as possible.

The two sides highly appreciated the landmark tripartite agreement signed by three oil companies from China, Vietnam and the Philippines to jointly prospect oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, believing the agreement will have a positive influence on maintaining stability at sea.

The two sides will implement the agreement seriously to start maritime cooperation at an early date, the communique says.

The two sides agreed to follow the purposes and principles of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the South China Sea signed by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and abide by the consensus reached between the two sides and multilateral commitments, aiming at safeguarding stability in the South China Sea. The two sides also agreed to maintain the negotiation mechanism for maritime issues, and seek for basic and long-term resolutions that are acceptable to both sides through peaceful negotiation, the communique stresses.

Vietnam reiterates in the communique its adherence to the one-China policy, its support for China's cause of national reunification, and its opposition to any activity aimed at separating Taiwan from China.

Vietnam understands and supports China's Anti-Secession Law and welcomes the recent relaxation trend across the Taiwan strait, the communique says, adding that Vietnam will only conduct non-governmental economic and trade exchanges with Taiwan and never develop any official ties with Taiwan.

The two sides agreed that the reform of the United Nations should be conducive to enhancing the UN's role, authority and efficiency so as to safeguard world peace and security, says the communique.

The two sides agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in the UN, ASEAN, ASEAN regional forum, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the development of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and other multilateral fields, the communique adds.

President Tran Duc Luong invites President Hu Jintao to pay a state visit to Vietnam at the end of 2005 and attend the 14th Economic Leaders' Meeting of APEC to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam at the end of 2006. President Hu accepted the invitation with pleasure.

Source: Xinhua