Deal to set up China-Vietnam naval hotline ‘may be message to Philippines’
China and Vietnam have agreed to set up a new navy hotline, with observers saying the move may be a message to Manila as territorial tensions flare with Beijing in the South China Sea, where Hanoi is also a claimant.
The deal came as Defence Minister Dong Jun met his Vietnamese counterpart in what was his first overseas trip since taking office in December.
Dong met Phan Van Giang in northern Vietnam near their shared border on Thursday, as part of the eighth Vietnam-China border-defence friendship exchange.
The two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on a hotline between the Vietnamese navy and the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command, which oversees the South China Sea.
“China is willing to join hands with Vietnam to firmly support each other’s core interests and major concerns, and bring the strategic mutual trust between the two militaries to a new height,” Dong said.
The former PLA naval commander also called on the two sides to “make maritime cooperation a new highlight of cooperation between the two militaries and enhance the ability to jointly maintain maritime security”.
Giang said China had “always been one of the top priorities in Vietnam’s foreign policy”, and that the border-defence friendship exchange was meant to “promote mutual political trust and understanding”, and strengthen solidarity and closer ties.
He also invited Dong to the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Vietnam People’s Army and the second Vietnam International Defence Expo this year.
The two communist neighbours pledged to step up exchanges and strengthen annual cooperation mechanisms, such as the defence strategic dialogue, the border-defence friendship exchange, and joint patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin near the South China Sea.
“[Beijing and Hanoi] have agreed to build a ‘community with a shared future’ so they would not let the South China Sea issue undermine overall bilateral relations,” said Feng Chao, an associate professor at Shanghai International Studies University who specialises in Vietnam affairs.
He was referring to a commitment made during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Vietnam last December.
“If China and Vietnam work well on this, the Philippines would not go too far [to provoke Beijing].”
The hotline deal comes some three years after the Chinese and Vietnamese navy chiefs agreed to set up such a mechanism to manage the risk of conflict over competing claims in the South China Sea.
Chen Xiangmiao, an assistant research fellow with China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said the new hotline – this time at a “theatre” level – could help to manage possible maritime accidents.
“These hotlines could enhance theatre-level exchanges between the two sides and are responsible for specific areas and specific military interactions,” Chen said.
The deal also comes amid increasing tensions between China and the Philippines over contested territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea, with several stand-offs between their respective coastguard vessels seen in recent months.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr took part in trilateral talks with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington on Thursday.
The three leaders expressed “serious concerns” about Beijing’s “dangerous and aggressive” behaviour in the South China Sea, and Biden said United States defence support for its two treaty allies was “ironclad”.
The summit came days after the three countries and Australia carried out joint military drills in the South China Sea, prompting the PLA to stage an air-and-sea combat patrol.
Beijing yesterday lodged representations with the Philippine ambassador and the Japanese deputy chief of mission over comments made at the summit.
Beijing claims almost the whole of the South China Sea under its historical “nine-dash line”. Vietnam – a major US trading partner in the region – also has overlapping claims, but has mostly remained a bystander in the recent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels.
Chen said Vietnam would be of strategic importance to Beijing in the event of any armed conflict in the South China Sea, given its geography.
“Vietnam has land borders with China and its coastline is very long from its north to south, so it could choke the passageway in the South China Sea,” Chen said.
Referring to the waters between Cam Ranh Bay in southeastern Vietnam and the northern Philippines, he added: “If a foreign country were to control these two places at the same time, it could control the passage of these waters in the South China Sea.”
China will “intensify high-level exchanges” with North Korea, top lawmaker and No 3 official Zhao Leji said in Pyongyang, as the two countries held their highest-level meeting in nearly five years.
The chairman of the National People’s Congress (NPC) is leading a delegation of senior officials to the North Korean capital on a goodwill, three-day visit to mark 75 years of bilateral ties.
Meeting his North Korean counterpart Choe Ryong-hae on Thursday, Zhao said China hoped to increase strategic coordination to mark the milestone in diplomatic relations.
Beijing was “willing to … take the ‘China-DPRK Friendship Year’ event as an opportunity to intensify high-level exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, promote cultural exchanges, strengthen strategic coordination, and promote the continued development of [bilateral] relations,” a foreign ministry statement quoted Zhao as saying. DPRK refers to North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Zhao is the third-ranked official in the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, headed by President Xi Jinping.
He is the most senior Chinese official to visit after Pyongyang resumed diplomatic activities around a year ago, after more than three years of border closures because of the pandemic.
Vice-Premier Liu Guozhong, foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong, and NPC vice-chairman Li Hongzhong have all since visited Pyongyang.
The high-level exchanges have prompted speculation about a potential meeting between Xi and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un later this year. The pair have not met since Xi last visited Pyongyang in 2019.
Senior officials in the delegation accompanying Zhao include Communist Party international liaison chief Liu Jianchao, Culture and Tourism Minister Sun Yeli, foreign vice-minister Ma Zhaoxu and commerce vice-minister Li Fei, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Chinese military’s international cooperation office, was also in the team, the report said. KCNA said Zhao’s talks with Choe covered issues such as those related to “positively promoting exchange and cooperation in all fields, including politics, economy and culture”.
The pair also exchanged views on the Korean peninsula, according to the Chinese readout, as tensions remain high between North Korea and the US and its regional allies.
Zhao’s visit coincided with a US-Japan-South Korea naval exercise aimed at North Korea starting on Thursday. The trilateral exercise came a day after a historic upgrade in the US-Japan defence alliance as President Joe Biden hosted Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House.
The US and Japan signed around 70 agreements, including on missile-defence information exchanges to counter air and missile threats around Japan, with an eye on both Beijing and Pyongyang.
In response, the Chinese foreign ministry said that it “strongly opposed practices adhering to the cold war mentality and engaging in small bloc politics”, and that US-Japan ties should not target other countries and undermine regional stability.
Kim, who inspected a model of Seoul earlier this week, has vowed to “completely annihilate” North Korea’s enemies if provoked. Pyongyang labelled South Korea – also a US treaty ally – as a “principal enemy” for the first time last year amid growing hostility.
Meanwhile, Kim has stepped up engagement with both China and Russia, including a rare visit abroad to the Russian far east last year for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Russia has been accused of buying weapons from North Korea to support its invasion of Ukraine.
Zhao and Choe also signed several agreements, including on customs quarantine and mutual exemptions for diplomatic and official visas.
The Chinese delegation is also expected to attend the opening ceremony of year-long events to celebrate the “China-North Korea Friendship Year”, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties. A 300-member Chinese performance group arrived in Pyongyang before Zhao to take part in the event.