China needs to respect Vietnam’s legitimate rights and interests in the South China Sea without complicating the situation, Deputy Vietnamese Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has said. 
Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and Chinese counterpart Han Zheng. Photo: VGP
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The deputy PM told Chinese counterpart Han Cheng on September 21 at the 16th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) held in Nanning, China’s Guangxi.
The Vietnamese senior official made the statement in the context that a Chinese survey ship and armed escorts have violated Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone for two almost months.
Vietnam has strongly protested the sovereignty violations while the international public has criticized China for “bullying tactics” and “coercion” as called by the US.
In a latest move, Vietnamese Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang demanded China to stop all the violations and immediately withdraw ships from Vietnam’s territorial waters.
Chinese Haiyang Dizhi 8 first entered Vietnamese waters in early July until August 7, and resumed the violations on August 13 until now. Recently, Lanjing, the world-largest crane vessel owned by China National Offshore Oil Corporation, has sailed through Vietnam’s EEZ.
At the meeting with Han Zheng, Vu Duc Dam said Vietnam treasured the multifaceted friendship with China and expected the two countries’ leaders to support activities that help deepen the relationship, mostly the people-to-people exchange and mutual-interest cooperation between border localities.
Dam also proposed measures which will help reduce Vietnam’s trade deficit with China.
Notably, the Vietnamese deputy PM asked China to have thorough solutions for pressing issues at projects invested by Chinese firms.
China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and largest source of imports. Between January and May, Vietnam incurred a trade deficit of US$16.5 billion, compared to US$24.2 billion in the same period last year, according to Vietnam Customs.
In the first eight months of this year, China was Vietnam’s biggest import market with a turnover of US$49.2 billion, accounting for 18.2% of the latter’s imports, followed by South Korea, ASEAN, Japan and the EU.
CAEXPO is an extraordinary economic and trade platform for China and ASEAN states since 2004. China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) has also been a part of the event since then.
