Sino-Vietnamese relations
Encyclopedia
The bilateral relations between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China
(PRC) have been turbulent, despite their common socialist
background. Centuries of conquest by the PRC's imperial predecessor
have given Vietnam an entrenched suspicion of Chinese attempts to dominate it. The two nations fought a brief border war
in 1979, but have since worked to improve their diplomatic and economic ties.
and the Vietnamese Thục Dynasty of the 3rd century BC, as noted in the Vietnamese historical record Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư. Over the centuries, Vietnam has been subject to four separate periods of imperial Chinese domination, but Vietnamese forces were eventually successful in repelling their Chinese overlords, and maintained their independence as a vassal state.
In 1884, during the time of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty, Qing China
and France
fought a war
which ended in a Chinese defeat. The resulting Treaty of Tientsin
recognized French dominance over Vietnam and Indochina
, spelling the end of Chinese influence on Vietnam, and the beginning of the Vietnamese French colonial period
.
, while Vietnam languished under the rule of the pro-Nazi Vichy French. In the Chinese provinces of Guangxi
and Guangdong
, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Phan Boi Chau
had arranged alliances with the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang
prior to the war by marrying Vietnamese women to Chinese officers. Their children were at an advantage, since they could speak both languages, and they worked as agents for the revolutionaries, spreading revolutionary ideologies across borders. This intermarriage between Chinese and Vietnamese was viewed with alarm by the French. In addition, Chinese merchants married Vietnamese women, and provided funds and help for revolutionary agents.
Late in the war, with Japan and Nazi Germany
nearing defeat, US President Theodore Roosevelt
privately decided that the French were not to reacquire their colonial property of French Indochina
after the war was over. Roosevelt offered the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek
the entirety of Indochina to be put under Chinese rule. Reportedly, Chiang Kai-shek replied: "Under no circumstances!".
After the war, 200,000 Chinese troops under General Lu Han
were sent by Chiang Kai-shek to invade northern Indochina north of the 16th parallel, with the aim of accepting the surrender of Japanese occupying forces. These troops remained in Indochina until 1946. The Chinese used the VNQDD, the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese Kuomintang
, to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents. Chiang Kai-shek threatened the French with war to force them to negotiate with the Vietminh leader Ho Chi Minh
. In February 1946, Chiang Kai-shek forced the French to surrender all of their concessions in China and renounce their extraterritorial privileges, in exchange for withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region.
, Communist China was an important strategic ally of North Vietnam
during the Vietnam War
. The Chinese Communist Party provided arms, military training and essential supplies to help the Communist North defeat South Vietnam
and its ally, the United States
, between 1954 and 1975. However, the Vietnamese Communists remained suspicious of China's perceived attempts to increase its influence over Vietnam.
Vietnam was an ideological battleground of the Sino-Soviet split
of the 1960s. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident
in 1964, Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping
secretly promised the North Vietnamese 1 billion yuan
in military and economic aid, on the condition that they refused all Soviet aid.
In the wake of the Vietnam War, Vietnam's 1976 intervention in Cambodia
provoked tensions with China, which had allied itself with the Cambodia
n Khmer Rouge
regime. This, and Vietnam's proximity to the Soviet Union, made China consider it a threat to its regional sphere of influence. Tensions were furthermore heightened by the Vietnamese government's oppression during the 1970s of the 2 million Hoa, or Vietnamese of Chinese ethnicity. By 1978, China ended its aid to Vietnam, which had signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union, establishing extensive commercial and military ties.
, and the question of sovereignty over the Paracel
and the Spratly Islands
in the South China Sea
. The potential of offshore oil deposits in the Gulf of Tonkin heightened such tensions. In 1973, with the Vietnam War drawing to a close, North Vietnam announced its intention to allow foreign companies to explore these oil deposits, and in January 1974, Chinese forces seized the Paracels, which were then occupied by South Vietnamese armed forces. After its takeover of South Vietnam in 1975, Vietnamese forces took over the Spratly Islands, over whom China had asserted sovereignty.
On February 17, 1979, the Chinese People's Liberation Army
crossed the Vietnamese border
, withdrawing on March 5 after a two-week campaign which devastated northern Vietnam and briefly threatened the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi
. Both sides suffered relatively heavy losses, with Chinese casualties put at over 40,000 and Vietnamese casualties at over 20,000. Subsequent peace talks broke down in December 1979, and both China and Vietnam began a major build-up of forces along the border. Vietnam fortified its border towns and districts and stationed as many as 600,000 troops; China stationed approximately 400,000 troops on its side of the border. Sporadic fighting on the border occurred throughout the 1980s, and China threatened to launch another attack to force Vietnam's exit from Cambodia. In the 1980s, China unsuccessfully attempted to pressure the Soviet Union into obtaining Vietnam's withdrawal.
and Vietnam's exit from Cambodia in 1990, Sino-Vietnamese ties began improving. Both nations planned the normalization of their relations in a secret summit in Chengdu
in September 1990, and officially normalized ties in November 1991. Since 1991, the leaders and high-ranking officials of both nations have exchanged visits. China and Vietnam both recognized and supported the post-1991 government of Cambodia, and supported each other's bid to join the World Trade Organization
(WTO). In 1999, the secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
, Le Kha Phieu visited Beijing
, where he met Chinese President Jiang Zemin
and announced a joint "16 Word Guideline" for improved bilateral relations; a Joint Statement for Comprehensive Cooperation was issued in 2000. In 2000, Vietnam and China successfully resolved longstanding disputes over their land border and maritime rights in the Gulf of Tonkin
. A joint agreement between China and ASEAN in 2002 marked out a process of peaceful resolution and guarantees against armed conflict. In 2002, Jiang Zemin made an official visit to Vietnam, where numerous agreements were signed to expand trade and cooperation and resolve outstanding disputes.
Vietnam's exports to China include crude oil, coal, coffee
and food, while China exports pharmaceuticals, machinery, petroleum
, fertilizers and automobile parts to Vietnam. China has become Vietnam's second-largest trading partner and the largest source of imports. Both nations are working to establish an "economic corridor" from China's Yunnan Province to Vietnam's northern provinces and cities, and similar economic zones linking China's Guangxi Province with Vietnam's Lang Son
and Quang Ninh Province
s, and the cities of Hanoi
and Haiphong
. Air and sea links as well as a railway line have been opened between the two countries, along with national-level seaports in the frontier provinces and regions of the two countries. Joint ventures have furthermore been launched, such as the Thai Nguyen Steel Complex, which produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel products.
. China had previously voiced its disagreement over Vietnamese oil exploration in the area, stating that the Spratly Islands
and the surrounding waters were its sovereign territory. Defense of the South China Sea was cited as one of the possible missions of the refurbished Chinese aircraft carrier
Shi Lang, formerly the Soviet vessel Varyag
, which began its sea trials in 2011.
In October 2011, Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
, made an official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao
, with the aim of improving bilateral relations in the wake of the border disputes.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(PRC) have been turbulent, despite their common socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
background. Centuries of conquest by the PRC's imperial predecessor
Imperial China
Imperial China may refer to:* Imperial era of Chinese history , divided into three major periods:** Early Imperial China** Mid-Imperial China** Late Imperial China...
have given Vietnam an entrenched suspicion of Chinese attempts to dominate it. The two nations fought a brief border war
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino–Vietnamese War , also known as the Third Indochina War, known in the PRC as and in Vietnam as Chiến tranh chống bành trướng Trung Hoa , was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
in 1979, but have since worked to improve their diplomatic and economic ties.
Prior history
China and Vietnam have interacted since the Chinese Warring States PeriodWarring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
and the Vietnamese Thục Dynasty of the 3rd century BC, as noted in the Vietnamese historical record Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư. Over the centuries, Vietnam has been subject to four separate periods of imperial Chinese domination, but Vietnamese forces were eventually successful in repelling their Chinese overlords, and maintained their independence as a vassal state.
In 1884, during the time of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty, Qing China
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
and France
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
fought a war
Sino-French War
The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...
which ended in a Chinese defeat. The resulting Treaty of Tientsin
Treaty of Tientsin (1885)
The Treaty of Tientsin, signed on 9 June 1885, officially ended the Sino-French War. The treaty, in ten articles, restated in greater detail the main provisions of the Tientsin Accord, signed between France and China on 11 May 1884...
recognized French dominance over Vietnam and Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
, spelling the end of Chinese influence on Vietnam, and the beginning of the Vietnamese French colonial period
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
.
World War II
Both China and Vietnam faced invasion and occupation by Imperial Japan during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, while Vietnam languished under the rule of the pro-Nazi Vichy French. In the Chinese provinces of Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Phan Boi Chau
Phan Boi Chau
Phan Bội Châu was a pioneer of Vietnamese 20th century nationalism. In 1903, he formed a revolutionary organization called the “Reformation Society” ....
had arranged alliances with the Chinese nationalist Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
prior to the war by marrying Vietnamese women to Chinese officers. Their children were at an advantage, since they could speak both languages, and they worked as agents for the revolutionaries, spreading revolutionary ideologies across borders. This intermarriage between Chinese and Vietnamese was viewed with alarm by the French. In addition, Chinese merchants married Vietnamese women, and provided funds and help for revolutionary agents.
Late in the war, with Japan and Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
nearing defeat, US President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
privately decided that the French were not to reacquire their colonial property of French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
after the war was over. Roosevelt offered the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
the entirety of Indochina to be put under Chinese rule. Reportedly, Chiang Kai-shek replied: "Under no circumstances!".
After the war, 200,000 Chinese troops under General Lu Han
Lu Han
Lu Han was a KMT general of Yi ethnicity.-Life:His alma matter was Yunnan military academy. He was commander of the First Group Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War....
were sent by Chiang Kai-shek to invade northern Indochina north of the 16th parallel, with the aim of accepting the surrender of Japanese occupying forces. These troops remained in Indochina until 1946. The Chinese used the VNQDD, the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
, to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents. Chiang Kai-shek threatened the French with war to force them to negotiate with the Vietminh leader Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
. In February 1946, Chiang Kai-shek forced the French to surrender all of their concessions in China and renounce their extraterritorial privileges, in exchange for withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region.
Cold War
Along with the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Communist China was an important strategic ally of North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The Chinese Communist Party provided arms, military training and essential supplies to help the Communist North defeat South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
and its ally, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, between 1954 and 1975. However, the Vietnamese Communists remained suspicious of China's perceived attempts to increase its influence over Vietnam.
Vietnam was an ideological battleground of the Sino-Soviet split
Sino-Soviet split
In political science, the term Sino–Soviet split denotes the worsening of political and ideologic relations between the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War...
of the 1960s. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, or the USS Maddox Incident, are the names given to two incidents, one fabricated, involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin...
in 1964, Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
secretly promised the North Vietnamese 1 billion yuan
Yuan
Yuan may refer to:* Chinese yuan, the basic unit of currency in China** Renminbi, the current currency used in the People's Republic of China, whose basic unit is Yuan...
in military and economic aid, on the condition that they refused all Soviet aid.
In the wake of the Vietnam War, Vietnam's 1976 intervention in Cambodia
Cambodian-Vietnamese War
The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea. The war began with isolated clashes along the land and maritime boundaries of Vietnam and Kampuchea between 1975 and 1977, occasionally involving division-sized military formations...
provoked tensions with China, which had allied itself with the Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
n Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
regime. This, and Vietnam's proximity to the Soviet Union, made China consider it a threat to its regional sphere of influence. Tensions were furthermore heightened by the Vietnamese government's oppression during the 1970s of the 2 million Hoa, or Vietnamese of Chinese ethnicity. By 1978, China ended its aid to Vietnam, which had signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union, establishing extensive commercial and military ties.
Sino-Vietnamese War
During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese and the Chinese had agreed to defer tackling their territorial issues until South Vietnam was defeated. These issues included the lack of delineation of Vietnam's territorial waters in the Gulf of TonkinGulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...
, and the question of sovereignty over the Paracel
Paracel Islands
The Paracel Islands, also called Xisha Islands in Chinese and Hoàng Sa Islands in Vietnamese, is a group of islands under the administration of Hainan Province, The People's Republic of China. Vietnam and the Republic of China also claim sovereignty of these islands...
and the Spratly Islands
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea. The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia , about one third of the way from there to southern Vietnam. They comprise less than four square kilometers of land...
in the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
. The potential of offshore oil deposits in the Gulf of Tonkin heightened such tensions. In 1973, with the Vietnam War drawing to a close, North Vietnam announced its intention to allow foreign companies to explore these oil deposits, and in January 1974, Chinese forces seized the Paracels, which were then occupied by South Vietnamese armed forces. After its takeover of South Vietnam in 1975, Vietnamese forces took over the Spratly Islands, over whom China had asserted sovereignty.
On February 17, 1979, the Chinese People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
crossed the Vietnamese border
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino–Vietnamese War , also known as the Third Indochina War, known in the PRC as and in Vietnam as Chiến tranh chống bành trướng Trung Hoa , was a brief but bloody border war fought in 1979 between the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam...
, withdrawing on March 5 after a two-week campaign which devastated northern Vietnam and briefly threatened the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
. Both sides suffered relatively heavy losses, with Chinese casualties put at over 40,000 and Vietnamese casualties at over 20,000. Subsequent peace talks broke down in December 1979, and both China and Vietnam began a major build-up of forces along the border. Vietnam fortified its border towns and districts and stationed as many as 600,000 troops; China stationed approximately 400,000 troops on its side of the border. Sporadic fighting on the border occurred throughout the 1980s, and China threatened to launch another attack to force Vietnam's exit from Cambodia. In the 1980s, China unsuccessfully attempted to pressure the Soviet Union into obtaining Vietnam's withdrawal.
Post-Cold War
With the collapse of the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Vietnam's exit from Cambodia in 1990, Sino-Vietnamese ties began improving. Both nations planned the normalization of their relations in a secret summit in Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
in September 1990, and officially normalized ties in November 1991. Since 1991, the leaders and high-ranking officials of both nations have exchanged visits. China and Vietnam both recognized and supported the post-1991 government of Cambodia, and supported each other's bid to join the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
(WTO). In 1999, the secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the...
, Le Kha Phieu visited Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, where he met Chinese President Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
and announced a joint "16 Word Guideline" for improved bilateral relations; a Joint Statement for Comprehensive Cooperation was issued in 2000. In 2000, Vietnam and China successfully resolved longstanding disputes over their land border and maritime rights in the Gulf of Tonkin
Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...
. A joint agreement between China and ASEAN in 2002 marked out a process of peaceful resolution and guarantees against armed conflict. In 2002, Jiang Zemin made an official visit to Vietnam, where numerous agreements were signed to expand trade and cooperation and resolve outstanding disputes.
Commercial ties
After both sides resumed trade links in 1991, growth in bilateral trade increased from only USD $32 million in 1991 to almost USD $7.2 billion in 2004. By 2011, trade volume had reached USD $25 billion.Vietnam's exports to China include crude oil, coal, coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and food, while China exports pharmaceuticals, machinery, petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
, fertilizers and automobile parts to Vietnam. China has become Vietnam's second-largest trading partner and the largest source of imports. Both nations are working to establish an "economic corridor" from China's Yunnan Province to Vietnam's northern provinces and cities, and similar economic zones linking China's Guangxi Province with Vietnam's Lang Son
Lạng Sơn Province
Lạng Sơn is a province in far northern Vietnam, bordering Guangxi province in China. Its capital is also called Lang Son, which is a strategically important town at the border with China and is northeast of Hanoi connected by rail and road...
and Quang Ninh Province
Quang Ninh Province
Quảng Ninh is a large province located along the northeastern coast of Vietnam. The province is home to Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site. The provincial capital is Ha Long. Nearly 80 per cent of the province is mountainous with abundant land, forest water and mineral resources. Nearly 90 per...
s, and the cities of Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and Haiphong
Haiphong
, also Haiphong, is the third most populous city in Vietnam. The name means, "coastal defence".-History:Hai Phong was originally founded by Lê Chân, the female general of a Vietnamese revolution against the Chinese led by the Trưng Sisters in the year 43 C.E.The area which is now known as Duong...
. Air and sea links as well as a railway line have been opened between the two countries, along with national-level seaports in the frontier provinces and regions of the two countries. Joint ventures have furthermore been launched, such as the Thai Nguyen Steel Complex, which produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel products.
Rekindled tensions over maritime territory
In June 2011, Vietnam announced that its military would conduct new exercises in the South China SeaSouth China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
. China had previously voiced its disagreement over Vietnamese oil exploration in the area, stating that the Spratly Islands
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea. The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia , about one third of the way from there to southern Vietnam. They comprise less than four square kilometers of land...
and the surrounding waters were its sovereign territory. Defense of the South China Sea was cited as one of the possible missions of the refurbished Chinese aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
Shi Lang, formerly the Soviet vessel Varyag
Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag
Varyag was to be an Admiral Kuznetsov class multirole aircraft carrier of the Soviet Union. She was known as Riga when her keel was laid down at Shipyard 444 in Nikolayev December 6, 1985. Design of the carrier was undertaken by the Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau...
, which began its sea trials in 2011.
In October 2011, Nguyen Phu Trong, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the...
, made an official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
, with the aim of improving bilateral relations in the wake of the border disputes.