China and Vietnam issued a joint communiqué Thursday in Beijing, pledging to further strengthen their good-neighborly and all-round cooperative relations.

 

The communiqué 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 communiqué, covering a wide range of issues, states that the two sides are pleased to see the growth of relations between 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 communiqué includes the following points:

 

The two sides agree 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 take bilateral ties to a new level.

 

The contracted cooperation project should be launched as soon as possible and long-term cooperation on major infrastructure and industrial projects between Chinese and Vietnamese enterprises will be encouraged to enhance the level and quality of the cooperation.

 

The two sides also agree to coordinate efforts to finish the study report on two economic corridors connecting the two countries and an economic zone around Beibu Bay as soon as possible.

 

Negotiations on bilateral market access concerning Vietnam's entrance into the World Trade Organization are complete.

 

Vietnam appreciates China's support in this respect.

 

Demarcation work of the land border has made remarkable progress. The process will be speeded up and a new agreement on borderline administration will be signed before 2008.

 

The two sides positively appraised the implementation of the agreement on the demarcation of Beibu Bay and the agreement on fishery cooperation. Both agree to continue to implement the two agreements seriously to maintain law and order at sea and an orderly fishery production, and start cooperation on cross-border exploration of oil and gas field structures as soon 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 maritime stability.

 

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 basic and long-term resolutions that are acceptable to both sides through peaceful negotiation.

 

Vietnam reiterated 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 Straits, adding that Vietnam will only conduct non-governmental economic and trade exchanges with Taiwan and never develop any official ties with Taiwan.

 

President Tran also invited President Hu to attend the 14th APEC Economic Leaders Meeting to be held in Hanoi in 2006. President Hu accepted the invitation.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2005)