China And Vietnam Settle Border Dispute

Associated Press - United States
January 1, 2009

HANOI: Vietnam and China have completed the demarcation of their
long-disputed land border in what they hailed as an event of "great historic
significance" 30 years after their brief but bloody border war, state media
reported Thursday.

The two countries signed a land border agreement in 1999, but it took them
nine years to demarcate the 1,350-kilometer, or 840-mile, frontier.

The Vietnam News Agency reported that the two countries issued a joint
statement, at the conclusion of four days of meetings, in which the border
demarcation was announced as "an event of great historic significance in
Vietnam-China relations."

The two sides, represented by Vu Dung, the Vietnamese vice foreign minister,
and Wu Dawei, his Chinese counterpart, pledged to build a border of "peace,
friendship and long-term stability," it said.

China backed the Vietnamese communists during the Vietnam War but sent
troops to invade Vietnam in early 1979 for ousting the Khmer Rouge from
Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge was backed by Beijing.

Vietnam and China normalized relations in 1991 and have since maintained
annual high-level visits.

The two sides, however, did not resolve their dispute over the Spratly
Islands, the largely uninhabited islands and surrounding waters that are
believed to have large oil and natural gas reserves. They straddle busy sea
lanes and are rich fishing grounds.

Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also claim sovereignty over all
or some of the Spratlys. The dispute touched off a rare anti-China street
protest in Vietnam late last year.