HANOI, (Reuters) – Communist-ruled China and Vietnam, at odds over claims in the South China Sea, agreed yesterday to boost ties and build a community with a “shared future”, three months after Hanoi upgraded its formal relations with the United States.
On Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Hanoi in six years, the two countries announced 37 deals, including on diplomatic ties, railways and telecommunications.
As China and the United States vie for influence in the strategic nation, the agreements mark an achievement of Vietnam’s “Bamboo diplomacy”, although analysts and diplomats said the improvement in relations could be more symbolic than real.
Vietnam agreed to “support the initiative of building a community of shared future for human kind”, according to a joint statement shown to reporters on Tuesday, after sources said China had been pushing for it. The joint statement is expected to be formally signed on Wednesday.
The countries’ diplomats had debated the “shared future” phrase for months, following Hanoi’s initial reluctance to use it, say officials and diplomats.
The Chinese term literally means “common destiny”, but its translation in English and Vietnamese is “common future”, which may be seen as less demanding.
“One declaration, many translations,” said a diplomat based in the Vietnamese capital, commenting on the interpretation of the term.
In diplomatic ties, the upgrade is symbolic, Le Hong Hiep, a specialist in Vietnamese strategic and political issues at Singapore’s Iseas–Yusof Ishak Institute, said.
“Vietnam’s mistrust of China runs deep, and from the Vietnamese people’s viewpoint, there is little to no ‘shared destiny’ between the two countries, as long as China continues to claim most of the South China Sea,” he said.
Despite close economic ties, the neighbours have been at odds over boundaries in the South China Sea and have a millennia-long history of conflict.
In a sign of possible de-escalation, however, they signed two cooperation agreements for joint patrols in the Tonkin Gulf in the South China Sea and to establish a hotline to handle fisheries incidents, according to one of the agreements.
