Negotiation is 'right approach'

President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong review an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi on Thursday.[HOANG DINH NAM/AFP]

Xi: Consensus on maritime issues in best interests

Beijing and Hanoi called for effectively managing maritime disputes on Thursday during President Xi Jinping's first visit to Vietnam to repair ties strained over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Xi appealed, in an article published on Thursday in the local official newspaper Nhan Dan, to seek a "basic, permanent approach that is acceptable to both sides" in regard to the maritime disputes.

"In that process, the two sides should maintain maritime stability and discuss ways of maritime cooperation to create favorable conditions for bilateral ties," Xi was quoted as saying in the article, emphasizing mutual understanding and friendly dialogue to "handle existing problems in a proper manner".

He urged better use of the existing bilateral boundary negotiation mechanism in resolving maritime disputes, drawing references from experience when defining land boundaries and settling disputes in the Beibu Gulf, a semi-enclosed sea whose delineation remains under negotiation between China and Vietnam.

During a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Xi proposed that the two sides jointly push forward maritime cooperation and the development of the disputed maritime area.

"Negotiation is the right approach, and through gradually making consensus, the two sides can expand mutual interests," he said.

Trong stressed that the friendship has grown over the years and agreed to effectively handle disputes with China.