China and Vietnam rebuild ties amid territorial dispute. (Photo : Getty Images)
China and Vietnam try to remain friendly and avoid using violence while wrangling for what both nations believe is part of their territories in the South China Sea.
In fact, China's Defense Minister Chang Wanquan called for deeper friendship between military forces in Beijing and Hanoi during his meeting with Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.
According to the Chinese defense minister, the countries should maintain close ties with each other as forged by past leaders Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam and Mao Zedong of China.
Chang added that both Chinese and Vietnamese militaries should "increase high level exchanges and strategic communication, increase friendly feelings, deepen border defense exchanges and practical cooperation on U.N. peacekeeping, military academic research and the defense industry."
On Tuesday, Reuters said that the two countries have "exchanged high-level visits" repeatedly over the past year alone, including one where Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Vietnam's capital Hanoi on official business.
Earlier this month, Xi also welcomed an envoy of Vietnam's leader and expressed the same idea of re-forging bonds between the two countries.
"China and Vietnam share a common destiny, so do the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam," Xi said in a statement cited by state-run Xinhua News Agency. "Developing bilateral ties conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries and their people."
This show of friendship marks the nations' attempt at maintaining peace while both sides claim ownership of the same territory in the South China Sea.
Earlier this year, the two nations were at each other's necks and are close to spark a war after officials from Taiwan and the U.S. revealed how Beijing placed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island at the Paracel archipelago.
Vietnam deemed it an act that violated their sovereignty, according to the Global Times.
China, however, insists that the placement of advanced missile system in the area is justified because of their "indisputable sovereignty over the region."
