Singapore, Oct 12, 2011 (TSR) – China and Vietnam have signed a six-point agreement on basic principles to settle maritime disputes, the official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.
The two countries agreed to meet twice a year to resolve any issues and set up a hotline to ensure prompt communication and deal with any maritime issues, the report said.
The agreement was signed in Beijing on Tuesday by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and his Vietnamese counterpart Ho Xuan Son in the presence Chinese President Hu Jintao and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.
“China and Vietnam should seek a basic and long-term approach that will be acceptable for both sides in solving maritime disputes on the basis of legislation and principles enshrined in international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea signed in 1982,” the report said.
Tension between the two countries increased in recent weeks over a number of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to have vast oil and gas deposits. Shipping lanes in the South China Sea are vital for global trade.
In May, Hanoi accused Chinese surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship in the area. In early June, Vietnam accused a Chinese fishing boat of intentionally ramming its exploration ship in the South China Sea.
China claims that the ships carried out exploration in waters under its jurisdiction and that Vietnam has violated its marine sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Vietnam then held a live-firing drill in the South China Sea, which it described as routine annual training.
The situation became worse last month following efforts by China to block India’s ONGC Videsh from oil and gas exploration in two Vietnam-licensed blocks in the South China Sea.
“Both sides should seek steady progress in negotiations regarding the maritime demarcation of the bay mouth of Beibu Gulf and discuss the joint development of the sea area,” the Xinhua report said.
China and Vietnam also agreed to promote maritime cooperation in less sensitive fields, including marine environmental protection, scientific research, search and rescue, disaster reduction and prevention, the report added.
The agreement followed “candid” talks between Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.
The Hu-Trong meeting took place in Beijing as Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang arrived in New Delhi on a state visit during which India and Vietnam inked an agreement to promote oil exploration in South China Sea along with a slew of pacts, including an extradition treaty, to deepen trade, security and strategic ties between the two countries.
The bridge-building effort could dispel some of the animosity that has built up in the region, setting Beijing against Southeast Asian nations that have turned to the United States to counter growing Chinese military and political influence.
Last month, China’s top official newspaper warned that a joint energy project between India and Vietnam in the sea infringed China’s territorial claims.
China helped Vietnamese Communist forces to victory in their decades-long fight against U.S. backed forces, but the two Asian nations have a history of mutual distrust reflecting Vietnam’s anxieties about its much bigger neighbor. In 1979, they fought a short but bitter border war.
China is Vietnam”s largest trading partner but the Communist neighbors have a long-standing dispute over sovereignty of the Paracel and Spratly island groups, which straddle vital commercial shipping lanes.
When the agreement was signed, China’s President Hu told Vietnam’s party chief Trong their two countries should try to get along and that both sides should not take any action that may magnify or complicate the disputes, but instead deal with problems in a calm and constructive fashion and avoid affecting their relationship, as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea.
What is the argument about?
It is a dispute over territory and sovereignty over ocean areas and the Paracels and the Spratlys – two island chains claimed in whole or in part by a number of countries. Alongside the fully fledged islands, there are dozens of uninhabited rocky outcrops, atolls, sandbanks and reefs.
Who claims what?
China claims by far the largest portion of territory – an area stretching hundreds of miles south and east from its most southerly province of Hainan. Beijing has said its right to the area come from 2,000 years of history where the Paracel and Spratly island chains were regarded as integral parts of the Chinese nation.
In 1947 China issued a map detailing its claims. It showed the two island groups falling entirely within its territory. Those claims are mirrored by Taiwan, because the island considers itself the Republic of China and has the same territorial claims.
Vietnam hotly disputes China’s historical account, saying China never claimed sovereignty over the islands until the 1940s. Vietnam says both island chains are entirely within its territory. It says it has actively ruled over both the Paracels and the Spratlys since the 17th Century – and has the documents to prove it.
The other major claimant in the area is the Philippines, which invokes its geographical proximity to the Spratly Islands as the main basis of its claim for part of the grouping.
Malaysia and Brunei also lay claim to territory in the South China Sea that they say falls within their economic exclusion zones, as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Brunei does not claim any of the disputed islands, but Malaysia claims a small number of islands in the Spratlys.
Why are so many countries so keen?
The Paracels and the Spratlys may have vast reserves of natural resources around them. There has been little detailed exploration of the area, so estimates are largely extrapolated from the mineral wealth of neighbouring areas.
Chinese officials have given the most optimistic estimates of resource wealth in the area. According to figures quoted by the US Energy Information Administration, one Chinese estimate puts possible oil reserves as high as 213 billion barrels – 10 times the proven reserves of the US. But American scientists have estimated the amount of oil at 28 billion barrels.
According to the EIA, the real wealth of the area may well be natural gas reserves. Estimates say the area holds about 900 trillion cubic ft (25 trillion cubic m) – the same as the proven reserves of Qatar.
The area is also one of the region’s main shipping lanes, and is home to a fishing ground that supplies the livelihoods of thousands of people.
How much trouble does the dispute cause?
The most serious trouble in recent decades has flared between Vietnam and China. The Chinese seized the Paracels from Vietnam in 1974, killing several Vietnamese troops. In 1988 the two sides clashed in the Spratlys, when Vietnam again came off worse, losing about 70 sailors.
The Philippines has also been involved in a number of minor skirmishes with Chinese, Vietnamese and Malaysian forces.
The most recent upsurge in tension has coincided with more muscular posturing from China. Beijing officials have issued a number of strongly worded statements, including warning their rivals to stop any mineral exploration in the area.
The Philippines has accused China of building up its military presence in the Spratlys. And unverified claims that the Chinese navy deliberately sabotaged two Vietnamese exploration operations has led to large anti-China protests on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam has held live-fire exercises off its coast – an action that was seen as a gross provocation by Beijing.
Is anyone trying to resolve the row?
Over the years, China has tended to favor arrangements negotiated behind closed doors with the individual leaders of other countries. But the other countries have pushed for international mediation.
So in July 2010, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became involved in the debate and called for a binding code of conduct, China was not pleased. The Chinese Foreign Ministry dismissed her suggestion as an attack on China.
Agreements such as the UN’s 1982 convention appeared to lay the framework for a solution. But in practice, the convention led to more overlapping claims, and did nothing to deter China and Vietnam in pressing their historical claims.
Both the Philippines and Vietnam have made bilateral agreements with China, putting in place codes of conduct in the area. But the agreements have made little difference.
The regional grouping Asean – whose membership includes all of the main players in the dispute except China and Taiwan – concluded a code of conduct deal with China in 2002.
Under the agreement, the countries agreed to “resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations”.
But recent events suggest that Vietnam and China at least have failed to stick to the spirit of that agreement. And Asean continues to discuss new ideas for resolving the dispute.
