Efforts to maintain the Vietnam-China land border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Vietnam and China signing the Land Border Treaty and the 15th anniversary of signing three legal documents on the Vietnam-China land border (Protocol on Border Demarcation and Marker Planting; Agreement on Border Management Regulations; Agreement on Border Gates and Border Gate Management Regulations). This historic achievement lays the legal and political foundation for the two countries to maintain a peaceful and stable environment for economic development, ensuring security and national defense... to meet the aspirations of the people of the two countries.

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With the goal of establishing a clear border between the two countries, from 1974 to 1979, Vietnam and China negotiated the territorial border three times, but did not achieve results because the two sides had very different positions and views. After normalizing relations, from October 1992, the two sides negotiated the fourth time on the territorial border. In October 1993, the two sides reached an Agreement on the basic principles for resolving the territorial border issue between Vietnam and China, agreeing to take the 1887 and 1895 Franco-Qing Conventions and accompanying documents, maps, and border markers as the basis for re-determining the Vietnam-China border; the residential areas on both sides that have lived there for a long time will maintain a stable life for the residents; for the river and stream border sections, it will be resolved according to the principles of international law and practice.

On December 30, 1999, at the Hanoi International Conference Center, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam and Chinese Foreign Minister Duong Gia Trien signed the land border treaty between Vietnam and China.

On December 30, 1999 in Hanoi, after 8 years of persistent negotiations in the context of complex fluctuations in the world and regional situation, the Vietnam-China Land Border Treaty (abbreviated as the 1999 Treaty) was signed, laying an important foundation for building a peaceful, friendly and long-term stable border between the two countries.

The 1999 Treaty only defined the border in writing and on maps. In order to clearly define the border, the two sides need to carry out demarcation and marker planting, transferring the border from the text in the Treaty and maps to the field. By the end of 2008, the demarcation and marker planting work was basically completed. As a result, the exact length of the border is 1,449.566 km, with 1,970 markers planted, including 1,548 main markers and 422 secondary markers. Vietnam and China have a land border adjacent to 7 provinces of Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son and Quang Ninh of Vietnam with Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China.

After completing the demarcation and marker planting, in order to cooperate in protecting and managing the border and national border markers, in 2009, in Beijing (China), representatives of the two governments signed three legal documents on the Vietnam-China land border. On July 14, 2010, the three legal documents on the Vietnam-China land border came into effect and the two countries officially managed the land border according to the new legal documents.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem and State Councilor Dai Bingguo at border marker No. 1116 (Vietnam side) during the ceremony to celebrate the completion of the demarcation and marker planting work on the Vietnam-China land border, February 23, 2009.

Having directly participated in the Vietnam-China border negotiations right after the two countries normalized relations and being the first person in Asia to translate the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Dr. Tran Cong Truc, former Head of the Government Border Committee, said that land border disputes between countries are a common type of international dispute that is often given priority to be resolved after diplomatic relations have been established. Vietnam and China have resolved border and territorial issues through peaceful negotiations, in accordance with the principles of international law, on the basis of international treaties or international practices, in a truly humble spirit, for the legitimate rights and interests of each side, jointly handling disagreements and disputes in accordance with the agreed legal principles.

“It can be said that this achievement is also a valuable contribution to international practice, an inseparable part of international law, to resolve national border and territorial disputes,” Dr. Tran Cong Truc emphasized.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Hong Thao, former Deputy Head of the National Border Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, commented: The completion of the demarcation and marker planting of the Vietnam-China land border is not the result of impatience or haste, but this achievement is due to the ability to seize the opportunity to conclude favorably and the attention and close direction of the two countries' senior leaders, the tireless efforts of the two Government-level negotiation delegations as well as experts and representatives of relevant sectors of the provinces sharing the border... This result is a vivid demonstration of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China, making a positive contribution to peace, stability and development in the region.

Over the past 25 years, Vietnam and China have made continuous efforts to maintain a peaceful and stable border, actively contributing to promoting cooperation, maintaining the positive development momentum of the bilateral relationship to a new height, and at the same time proving that the 1999 Treaty and the completion of demarcation and marker planting, and the implementation of three legal documents on land borders are successes of great historical significance, opening a new page in the bilateral relationship.

In an interview with the press on August 15, Chinese Ambassador Hung Ba emphasized: “The two sides have well implemented the China-Vietnam Land Border Treaty, the people along the border of the two countries live in peace, live together in harmony, and are as close as brothers and sisters. The China-Vietnam border area has become the most peaceful, stable, and harmonious border area, with the most bustling trade and travel exchanges in the world. I still remember very clearly, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visited the Huu Nghi - Huu Nghi Quan border gate last August to survey and emphasized that in the world, there is only one border area here named after the border gate with the two words “Huu Nghi”, which is “one of a kind” in the world; vividly demonstrating the scene of friendly exchanges at the border area of ​​the two countries. A peaceful and secure border area is something we should be proud of.”

On August 25, 2023, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visited Huu Nghi International Border Gate. Also attending was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Vietnam Hung Ba.

According to the Overview Report on the management and protection of the Vietnam-China land border since the three legal documents came into effect until now by the National Border Committee, the practice in recent years has shown that the peaceful and stable border has actively contributed to promoting cooperation and development in the border area, and trade exchange activities through border gates have developed strongly.

Friendly exchange activities between the border management functional forces of the two countries have been actively implemented by ministries, branches and localities. Defense diplomacy, border diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy activities have been promoted, rich in content and diverse in form. Since 2010, there have been 8 "Vietnam-China Border Defense Friendship Exchanges" and 3 "Border Friendship Exchanges", thereby building solidarity, friendship, cooperation and effective coordination between the border management and protection functional forces of the two countries Vietnam and China.

General and Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang and Senior Lieutenant General and Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun take a photo together. (Photo: VNA)

At the local border level, people-to-people diplomacy activities, exchanges, and visits on traditional holidays and Tet are regularly organized; friendly exchange activities in various forms such as village-hamlet twinning, station-station, and joint construction of a peaceful and friendly border... have achieved remarkable results; local border authorities on both sides have signed agreements with 67 pairs of residential clusters on both sides of the border. Local border cooperation mechanisms are organized periodically and flexibly (including during the COVID-19 pandemic), thereby proposing and coordinating the effective and substantive implementation of many contents of cooperation in border management and protection.

Import-export activities at Kim Thanh international road border gate No. 2. (Photo: VNA)

With positive results in management, protection as well as trade exchange, and friendship between the Vietnam-China border, in the coming time, according to Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, the two countries will "work together to create major orientations, create changes, and turn the peaceful and stable Vietnam-China border into a border of cooperation and solid development, taking into account major trends in the region and the world today. We will continue to actively coordinate with the Chinese side to make greater efforts, contributing to building the Vietnam-China land border into a truly peaceful, stable, friendly, cooperative and developed border, bringing socio-economic development, a peaceful, stable, prosperous and happy life to the people of the two countries, especially the people in the border localities".

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper

https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/no-luc-gin-giu-bien-gioi-dat-lien-viet-nam-trung-quoc-hoa-binh-huu-nghi-hop-tac-va-phat-trien-20240817140750017.htm

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/no-luc-gin-giu-bien-gioi-dat-lien-viet-nam-trung-quoc-hoa-binh-huu-nghi-hop-tac-va-phat-trien-203668.html