China and Vietnam to mend strained relationship

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made explicit calls for concrete measure to be taken so that the relationship between China and Vietnam can be repaired after China deployed an oil rig and flotilla of naval vessels into Vietnamese waters to explore for hydrocarbons under the sea floor.

Xinhua reports that the plans were made and announced at a meeting between Xi and Le Hong Anh. Le is a special envoy and Standing Secretary of Vietnam's most powerful political body, the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.

Le was in a China for a two-day visit to Beijing.

Xi introduced the plans to restore relations by saying, ""A neighbor cannot be moved away and it is in the common interests of both sides to be friendly to each other."

Among the measures both nations agreed upon were the establishment of working groups to discuss and study joint exploration of the South China Sea, and making the most of border negotiations. The two countries also pledged to avoid actions that would enflame tensions in the area.

When China placed the oil rig in Vietnamese waters, violent and destructive anti-Chinese rioting broke out in Hanoi and other cities in Vietnam. Five Chinese citizens were killed in the violence and a number of foreign factories were burned to the ground. South Korean and Japanese firms flew their national flags in an effort protect their businesses from the rioters.

Xi also called for a deepening of ties between both countries through more trade and the opening of more channels of communication.

While both countries are ruled by a Communist Party that has created its own hybrid economic model of free market and state controlled policies, they have not always been the closest of allies.

Both countries fought an all out war as recently at 1979 when Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime in next door Cambodia. China supported the regime in Cambodia and invaded Vietnam as retribution.