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The agreement on the position of the border between China and Vietnam in the Beibu Gulf has provided an effective formula for other countries in this region to solve their maritime disputes.
Since the 1990s, China has basically resolved its land boundary disputes with surrounding countries, thus forming a good-neighborly environment along its land borders.
However, the complicated disputes and conflicts over the ownership of the archipelagoes scattered in the South China Sea between China and some Southeast Asian countries have occasionally strained its ties with them. This has severely tested the country's friendly and good-neighborly diplomatic approach.
Consisting of more than 200 small islands and reefs, the South China Sea Islands have been part of China's territory since ancient times.
Given their increasing geographical, economic and strategic significance, these small islands have become the target of a struggle between surrounding countries.
Besides China, Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have also claimed sovereignty over some of the islands. Some have even taken military actions to reinforce their positions.
Their overlapping claims and some extremist activities occasionally make the region one of the world's flashpoints.
Of these disagreements, the one between China and Vietnam over the Beibu Gulf demarcation line had long been the most complicated and thorny issue.
The gulf, encircled by China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, Guangdong Province, Hainan Province, as well as Vietnam, has an area of about 12,930 square kilometers.
It has long been an important sea passage to the outside world for China and Vietnam.
But the two countries had never decided upon a settled maritime border.
Since diplomatic relations were normalized in 1991, China and Vietnam have stepped up their border demarcation talks.
In 1993, the two countries signed an agreement relating to basic principles of their boundary issues, in which both sides agreed to push for a clear demarcation in the Beibu Gulf through talks under the principle of equity.
By May 1998, the two countries held 10 rounds of talks, but no concrete progress was made.
After the signing of a land boundary treaty at the end of 1999, the two countries accelerated the Beibu Gulf demarcation talks.
In 2000, because of directives from the two countries' leaders and guidance from their government-level boundary delegations, the joint working group on the Beibu Gulf issue again held several rounds of talks. Fishery and surveying experts from both countries also held talks.
Finally, the two countries confirmed a maritime border line in the gulf that year and, at the same time, made some concrete arrangements for fishing rights.
This realized a goal set by their leaders that the Beibu Gulf demarcation issue should be completed within 2000.
On December 26 that year, the foreign ministers of the two countries signed in Beijing a boundary accord on the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf.
The accord was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and went into force in June 2004.
It means that China and Vietnam have finally resolved a long-standing issue that had long plagued bilateral ties and had caused tension.
The emergence of the South China Sea disputes between competing countries was brought about by the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
The reduction in influence of the United States and the former Soviet Union gave rise to "power vacuums" in various parts of the world, leading to many previously hidden regional disputes.
To prevent potential conflict, the countries encompassing the South China Sea looked for ways to solve this problem.
For example, the parties concerned once convened several rounds of official or quasi-official multilateral forums to exchange views on this issue, but to little avail.
The settlement of the Beibu Gulf demarcation line demonstrates that bilateral talks, instead of multilateral talks, contribute more to complicated territorial disputes.
The determination of state and Party leaders from the two countries was the key to the success in the Beibu Gulf dispute.
Since diplomatic ties were normalized, China and Vietnam have maintained smooth relations in both party and state dimensions, and bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields have also become increasingly closer.
In early 1999, former general secretary of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Zemin, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Le Kha Phieu, drew up a framework for long-term stable bilateral relations.
They also shared a view that the two countries should sign a land border treaty in 1999 and complete the Beibu Gulf demarcation talks the next year.
This common ground shared by top leaders of the two countries played a key role in their boundary talks.
The Beibu Gulf demarcation talks also demonstrate that the concept of "shelving disputes for common development," long advocated by China, can work in settling complicated territorial disputes.
On March 14, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines and Vietnam signed a tripartite agreement for a joint marine survey in some certain areas of the South China Sea.
It further indicates that China and other Southeast Asian nations have grown more mature in solving disputes through consultation and dialogue.
(China Daily March 24, 2005)
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