Asia-Pacific

Vietnam, China to discuss oil rig issue

367309_China-Vietnam

A senior Chinese official is to hold talks with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister over an oil rig dispute between Beijing and Hanoi.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh announced on Tuesday that Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi is going to meet Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh this week during an annual bilateral event in Vietnam.

“As we have affirmed many times that Vietnam has always been patient to look for dialogues with China to peacefully resolve the tension in the East Sea, this meeting, therefore, will surely be a channel and an event the two sides could discuss the issue to find out solutions for the current tension,” Binh said.

This would be the first meeting between officials from the two countries following China’s launching of the oil rig in the South China Sea on May 2. Hanoi claims that China has violated Vietnamese territory with placing the oil rig in its territorial waters.

China and Vietnam are locked in a longstanding territorial dispute in the South China Sea over islands and waters claimed by both countries. China claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. The waters are believed to sit atop vast reserves of oil and gas.

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