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China, Vietnam Try to Make Amends After Stormy Start to 2020

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Officials from Vietnam and China met this week after
   months of maritime disputes, including a sunken boat and missile tests.

   Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met Vietnamese ambassador to China
   Phạm Sao Mai in Beijing.

   Wei said at the meeting China hopes to "strengthen unity, closely
   cooperate and appropriately handle disputes" with Vietnam in the face
   of "global changes," according to a statement on the ministry's
   website.

   Coolig China - Vietnam tensions

   Asia political experts say the two sides are seeking to cool tensions
   between the Asian neighbors to prevent an escalation of their recent
   conflicts at sea.

   "It's an attempt to dial down, I think, tensions, not end them but to
   dial down tensions specifically," saidCarl Thayer, Southeast
   Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South
   Wales in Australia.

   Although the two Communist party-run states are known for dramatic ups
   and downs in their relations, the first eight months of 2020 tested the
   downside with a series of incidents in the contested South China Sea.

   In April a Chinese survey vessel sank a Vietnamese fishing boat. Two
   months later, a Chinese survey ship passed within 200 nautical miles
   (370 kilometers) of Vietnam's coast in an exclusive economic zone or
   EEZ. In August the Chinese military test-fired two missiles near the
   Paracel Islands, a South China Sea archipelago controlled by Beijing
   but vehemently contested by Vietnam, Chinese media reports say.

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