China president visits Vietnam as 2 sides seek to mend ties

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam on Thursday comes as the two communist countries seek to mend ties strained over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Bilateral relations plunged to their lowest point in years following Chinese's parking of a giant oil rig near the Paracel islands in an area Vietnam claims is within its exclusive economic zone. The incident sparked deadly anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam.

The two countries have since then been trying to repair ties with high-level contacts and exchanges of visits including the visit to China by Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in April.

Vietnamese state media quoted Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh as saying that leaders will discuss strengthening of relations as well as differences including the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. And China's official Xinhua News Agency reported that more than 10 cooperation agreements covering party-to-party relations, trade, investment and infrastructure are expected to be signed.

But analysts say Xi's two-day visit is unlikely to mark much progress in addressing territorial tensions.

"I personally think it's difficult to resolve the issue of territorial disputes when Vietnam and China still maintain their positions," said Duong Danh Dy, former Vietnamese Consular General in Guangzhou, in southern China.

Xinhua said in an editorial Thursday said that the settlement of their territorial disputes depend on "the two neighbors' will and ability to properly manage their differences," and that they should not allow the outside world to interfere.

"Beijing and Hanoi should never shake their confidence in face of any noises pouring cold water on or even slinging mud at their partnership," it said. "Nor should they allow such parochial and ill-intended views to go unchecked and mislead the public opinion toward the unfathomable abyss of confrontation."

China claims almost all South China Sea. Vietnam and China both claim the Paracel islands, which are under Chinese occupation after it ousted the U.S.-backed Saigon government in 1974, one year before the end of the Vietnam War.

The two countries along with the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei claim all or parts of the Spratlys islands which lies on one of the world's busiest sea lanes and are believed to be rich in oil and gas and fish resources.

China's massive land reclamation over the past 18 months in the South China Sea has rattled countries in the region and caused concerns in the United States which supports the freedom of navigation and overflight in the area.

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