Vietnam, China Meet Over Oil Rig Spat

At a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the visiting head of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party that the two countries must manage their dispute over China’s 2014 deployment of an oil rig to maintain peace and stability.

Anti-Chinese violence resulting in at least four Chinese nationals dead flared in Vietnam last May after a $1-billion deepwater rig owned by China's state-run CNOOC oil company was parked 240 km (150 miles) off the coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea. The incident nearly caused a complete loss of ties between the two countries, who were at risk of a naval standoff in the midst of the dispute. China withdrew its rig after two months of drilling after making it clear that the only reason for withdrawal was because it had finished its work, not because of Vietnam’s accusations.

Since then, however, China has sought to make amends with Vietnam.

Communist parties rule both countries and trade has swelled to $50 billion annually, but Vietnam has long been suspicious of its giant neighbor, especially over Beijing's increasingly assertive claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

Meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Xi told Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, that cooperation was good for the two countries, the China News Service reported.

"(We) must strictly abide by the important consensus the leaders of both parties have reached, jointly properly manage and control maritime disputes, maintain the broader picture of relations and peace and stability in the South China Sea," the report quoted Xi as saying.

Trong told Xi that Vietnam put great store on having friendly relations with China, which was Hanoi's long-term strategic policy, the report added. However, the official Xinhua news agency warned of problems ahead.

"Some outsiders, for selfish reasons, are exploiting every possible excuse to sow discord between them, while a few in Vietnam's political circle have been deluded by external Pied Pipers and become accomplices," Xinhua said, without elaborating.

In response to the ongoing South China Sea dispute, Vietnam has strengthened its military relationship with old enemy the United States following Xi's assumption of power in 2013, and Vietnam has also sought common ground with the Philippines on facing China over the spat.?