1. At the invitation of Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam paid an official visit to the People's Republic of China on 22-25 October 2008, and attended the Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 7). During the visit, Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with him. General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao and Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of P.R.C. met with him respectively. Besides Beijing, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also visited Hainan Province.
In a friendly atmosphere and in the spirit of mutual understanding, leaders of the two countries had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest, and reached important agreement on enriching the comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between China and Viet Nam. The two sides agreed that the visit was a complete success and contributed to the growth of the China-Viet Nam good-neighborly relations and comprehensive cooperation. This serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples, as well as peace, stability and development of the region and the world at large.
2. The Vietnamese side applauded the remarkable achievements the brotherly Chinese people had made during the 30 years of reform and opening-up, believing that China's success in hosting the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games and ASEM 7 and in the Shenzhou 7 manned space flight further enhanced China's international standing and prestige. The Vietnamese side expressed its conviction that the Chinese people would make fresh progress in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and attain the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.
The Chinese side highly appreciated the huge success the Vietnamese people had achieved in their reform and opening-up program and in their endeavor to industrialize and modernize the country and improve people's life. It congratulated Viet Nam on its integration into the international community and its election as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. The Chinese side expressed its firm belief that the Vietnamese people would triumphantly achieve their goal of building a strong, prosperous, fair, democratic and culturally advanced socialist country.
3. The two sides were satisfied with the important progress made in China-Viet Nam good-neighborly relations and cooperation, as marked by growing political mutual trust, fruitful trade and economic cooperation, expanded exchanges and cooperation between government departments at national and local levels and proper settlement of outstanding problems. The two sides shared the view that to expand and deepen the China-Viet Nam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in the context of the complex and changing international political and economic situation is in the fundamental interests of the two parties, two countries and two peoples and conducive to peace, stability and development of the region and the world.
4. The two sides reached important agreement on measures to build the China-Viet Nam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. As mutually agreed, the two sides will maintain close high-level contacts between the two parties and two countries and exchange views in a timely manner on major issues in bilateral relations through diverse avenues such as bilateral exchange of visits, hotline telephone conversations and meetings in multilateral settings. They will give greater scope to the role of China-Viet Nam steering committee on cooperation in making overall plan for and promoting bilateral cooperation in all areas, improve cooperation mechanism between government departments and effectively implement cooperation agreements between ministries of foreign affairs, national defence, pubic security and state security, expand practical cooperation in science, technology, culture, education, health and tourism, increase friendly exchanges between the youth and non-governmental organizations, and spread the information about the significance and substance of China-Viet Nam comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation. All this will help carry forward the friendship between the two peoples from one generation to another. The two sides agreed to hold celebrations of diverse forms to mark the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
5. The two sides agreed to further deepen business cooperation to increase two-way trade volume to US$25 billion by 2010. The two sides have entrusted the China-Viet Nam Committee on Trade and Economic Cooperation with the following tasks: First, promote the implementation of the Five-Year Plan for the Development of China-Viet Nam Trade and Economic Cooperation currently under discussion; second, facilitate mutual investment by enterprises of the two sides; third, establish, as soon as possible, a business cooperation working group to share information and exchange views on specific issues concerning bilateral business cooperation and explore solutions to existing problems; fourth, step up information sharing on and coordinate management in the fight against smuggling, counterfeit goods and commercial fraud so as to ensure the sound growth of border trade.
By providing better guidance and policy support, the two governments will encourage their business communities to implement, in line with market rules, cooperation agreements and economic contracts that have already been signed to enhance confidence in bilateral cooperation. They will continue to negotiate large cooperation projects, and encourage large enterprises to expand long-term mutually beneficial cooperation in infrastructure, transport, power, housing construction, design consulting, chemical industry, supporting industries and shipbuilding. The two sides agreed to further implement the memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the two economic corridors and the pan-Beibu Bay economic circle, study proposals regarding the cross-border business and tourism areas, and strengthen relations between border provinces.
The two sides agreed to increase experience exchange between economic experts of the two sides to put forward policy recommendations on ways to address the changes in international economic situation.
6. The two sides expressed satisfaction with the basic completion of land border demarcation. They agreed to work more closely to resolve the remaining issues, accomplish the task of demarcation and erection of boundary markers along the entire land border within this year as planned, sign the demarcation protocol and the new agreement on border administration system at an early date, and turn the land border between the two countries into one of lasting friendship, peace, stability and mutually beneficial cooperation. The two sides agreed to hold a ceremony to celebrate the completion of the demarcation and erection of boundary markers along the entire border at an agreed pair of ports.
The two sides reiterated that they would continue to work closely to earnestly implement the Beibu Bay Demarcation Agreement and the Beibu Bay Fishery Cooperation Agreement, to carry out joint inspection of common fishing areas in the Beibu Bay, joint survey on fishery resources and joint patrol of navies, to make substantive progress in cooperation in cross-border gas and oil exploration in the Beibu Bay, to steadily advance the negotiations on demarcation of the sea area beyond the mouth of the Beibu Bay, and to hold active discussions on the joint development of this area and launch joint survey on this area at an early date.
The two sides had a candid and friendly exchange of views on maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea, reiterated that they would adhere to the high-level consensus and the spirit in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, maintain negotiation mechanisms for maritime issues, seek a fundamental and long-term solution acceptable to both sides in accordance with the legal regime and principles laid down in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international laws, and at the same time actively study and discuss the question of joint development so as to identify the proper way and areas for joint development. In this process, the two sides will make joint efforts to maintain stability in the South China Sea and refrain from taking moves that will complicate or aggrevate the dispute. Both sides agreed to follow the approach of handling easier problems first and strengthen their cooperation in areas such as maritime research, environmental protection, meteorological and hydrological forecast, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, search and rescue on the sea, mutual visits by naval fleets and the establishment of direct information exchange mechanism between the two militaries.
7. The Vietnamese side reiterated its commitment to the one China policy, support for China's national reunification and firm opposition to "Taiwan independence" separatist activities in any form. Viet Nam will not enter into any official ties with Taiwan. The Chinese side appreciated the above-mentioned position of the Vietnamese side.
8. The two sides exchanged views and reached agreement on international and regional issues of mutual interest and expressed satisfaction with their close coordination and cooperation in international and regional organizations and mechanisms including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Leaders' Meeting, Asia-Europe Meeting, ASEAN+China and ASEAN+China, Japan and the ROK. They agreed to step up cooperation in multilateral fields and make positive contribution to the building of a world of durable peace and common prosperity.
9. During the visit, the two sides signed eight coooperation documents. They include the agreement between the two governments on the installation of a hotline between leaders of the two countries, the agreement on border health inspection, the general agreement on the provision of buyer's credit to Viet Nam by China, the cooperation agreement on the establishment of China-Viet Nam economic and trade cooperation zone in Hai Phong, and the strategic cooperation agreement between China National Off-shore Oil Corporation and Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group.
10. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung expressed sincere thanks to Premier Wen Jiabao, the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Government and people for the high-level, warm and friendly hospitality accorded to him and extended an invitation to Premier Wen Jiabao to visit Viet Nam again. Premier Wen Jiabao expressed thanks to the Prime Minister for the invitation.
Beijing, 25 October 2008