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China wants Vietnam not to take unilateral action on territorial disputes
State Councillor Wang was speaking with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a visit to Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, quoted by Reuters.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sits on the podium during the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany, on February 15, 2020. The 2020 edition of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) takes place from February 14 to 16, 2020.
(AFP/Christof Stache)
C
hina and Vietnam should refrain from unilateral actions regarding the South China Sea that could complicate the situation and magnify disputes, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told a Vietnamese official, China's foreign ministry said.
State Councillor Wang was speaking with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh during a visit to Vietnam, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, quoted by Reuters.
Wang's visit to Vietnam, part of his week-long Southeast Asian tour, came about two weeks after US Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to the region.
The Vietnamese prime minister said in a meeting with the Chinese ambassador just hours before Harris' visit that Vietnam did not align itself with one country against any other.
China says it has historical sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, but its neighbours and the United States say that claim has no basis in international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which China is a signatory.
Beijing's claim overlaps with Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, as well as those of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. Trillions of dollars in trade flow every year through the waterway, which also contains rich fishing grounds and gas fields.
Wang said the two countries should cherish the hard-won peace and stability achieved in the South China Sea and be vigilant to resist the intervention of extraterritorial forces, the Chinese ministry's statement said.
