Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (R Front) meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, Oct. 28, 2010. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi Thursday and called for proper handling of the South China Sea territorial rights issue.

To properly handle the issue was of vital importance to a sound and stable development of China-Vietnam relations, Wen said.

He noted that China and Vietnam had established a negotiation mechanism to solve the issue, and he hoped the two countries would discuss and sign an agreement on basic principles guiding the solution of issues of the sea as early as possible.

Dung agreed with Wen's remarks.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of a series of summits between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners, in which Wen and Dung also discussed bilateral relations and called for stronger cooperation between ASEAN and China.

Expressing the high importance China placed on the summits, Wen said China would strengthen communication and coordination with Vietnam and works with all sides concerned to push forward East Asian cooperation.