Japanese Defence Minister Gen. Nakatani (left) is greeted by his Vietnamese counterpart General Phung Quang Thanh as they meet for talks in Hanoi yesterday.
Reuters
Hanoi/Beijing
Vietnam agreed to build a “truly trustworthy” relationship with China yesterday during a visit to Hanoi by its President Xi Jinping, but at the same time invited Beijing’s old rival Japan for joint military exercises and a visit to a sought-after port.
The diplomatic flurry highlights the fragility of China’s testy ties with its communist neighbour, and Vietnam’s efforts to diversity its relations through new alliances with states locked in bitter disputes with Beijing over its maritime expansionism.
Vietnam and China’s competing territorial claims mushroomed into a major dispute last year, which Xi aimed to settle on a timely visit close to a scheduled shakeup of a Vietnamese Communist Party leadership increasingly being courted by the US.
Xi was given the red carpet treatment during meetings since Thursday with the top leaders of Vietnam and he told its National Assembly their joint revolutionary friendship could dispel and survive any “disruptions”.
“Our two parties, countries and peoples should be staunch in their faith, help each other and proceed hand in hand, not allowing anyone to disrupt our pace,” he said.
Both sides agreed yesterday to maintain peace at sea and trust each other, but as Xi prepared to leave, Japan’s defence ministry announced Vietnam had invited it to take part in humanitarian exercises and to bring a warship to its strategic Cam Ranh Bay once construction of a new dock was complete.
Cam Ranh is the jewel in the crown of Vietnam’s military, with an air base once used by the US and Soviet forces and a deep water bay home to its modern, Russian-built submarines. Visits by foreign ships are rare and usually reserved for maintenance.
Vietnam’s warm assurances to China and its agreement with Japan on the same day are likely to antagonise Beijing, but show Hanoi’s intent to engage the West and Asian powers in defence, trade and investment after a history of at times uncomfortable dependence on its giant neighbour.
Trust has become an issue for China, whose Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday told US counterpart John Kerry that a recent US warship patrol near its man-made islands in the Spratlys was of extreme concern.
