China and Vietnam establish a hotline  2004-08-10

China and Vietnam are to establish a special hotline as part of a commitment to uphold agreements on disputed land and sea borders.

The official Xinhua newsgency reports Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, and Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Vu Dung, signed the deal in southwestern Guangxi province.

The communist neighbours also reaffirmed their fishery cooperation agreement to NOT take extreme action or make use of force on fishery-related matters.

Both countries clashed violently in 1979 following Hanoi's intervention in Cambodia to oust Beijing's Khmer Rouge allies, and again in 1988 in the disputed Spratly Islands, a potentially oil-rich archipelago in the South China Sea.

Relations were normalised in 1991.


10/08/2004 04:32:38 | ABC Radio Australia News

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newstories/RANewsStories_1172556.htm