Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh has talked with Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi about further cooperation for stability in the South China Sea, to which Vietnam refers as the East Sea, and measures to narrow the trade gap Vietnam incurs with the northern neighbor. 
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met his Chinese counterpart at the 4th LMC meeting. Photo: VNA
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Pham and Wang all agreed that the two countries need to closely implement the consensus reached by the two countries' top leaders in solving maritime issues on the basis of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982.
All measures must aim to respect each other’s legitimate interests, keep disputes under the control, and security in the sea, they noted.
According to the diplomats, the 12th meeting of the Vietnam-China Bilateral Cooperation Committee will be held in China next year.
At the meeting, Pham expected that China would make a number of policies to reduce Vietnam’s trade deficit by diversifying items to be imported from Vietnam and boosting the import of fruit, seafood, pork, and dairy products.
Vietnam incurred a trade deficit of US$22.7 billion out the two-way trade worth US$120 billion in 2017.
Mekong-Lan Cang Cooperation expected to support mutual interests
The LMC framework was created in 2015 to promote Mekong cooperation at a sub-regional level, comprising of six countries along the Mekong River.
Originating from China’s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the river is called Lancang in China and Mekong in its downstream, and flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, measuring 4,880 kilometers in length, draining an area of 795,000 square kilometers, and feeding altogether 326 million people.
LMC is said to bolster economic and social development of the sub-regional countries, enhancing the wellbeing of their people, narrowing the development gap among regional countries and supporting ASEAN Community building.
But a number of regional experts said that the LMC is designed to overshadow other existing frameworks such as the US-sponsored Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) and the Japan’s ADB-led Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), and to be an alternative to the lower riparian countries’ Mekong River Commission (MRC).
