China and Vietnam Agree on Land Border

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:21:12 EST

China and Vietnam have settled a lengthy border dispute nearly 30 years after a month-long war that left tens of thousands of people dead, state-run media reported. The settlement of the dispute, which covered the land border between the two countries came during a December 28-31 meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam. A joint statement issued by the two governments on Wednesday.

The deal settled the remaining issues of China-Vietnam land boundary treaty of 30^th December 1999 in Hanoi. Vietnam has a total land border length of 4510 km of which 1306 km is adjacent to China. After gaining independence in 1957, the Central Committee of labor party of Vietnam wrote to the Central Standing Committee of the Communist party of China proposing that the two parties should respect the historical borer established by the Sino-French Conventions of 18887 and 1895.

This is first major historical event of great significance of 2009 in relation between Oriental countries. A ceremony marking the agreement and building of land border markers will be held later, the news agency said.

The border dispute arose after China, which supported North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, invaded its southern neighbor in February 1979 two months after Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ousted the pro-Beijing Pol Pot regime.

The Vietnam conflict or anti-American imperialist war as it is referred to in Vietnam interrupted this process, but after the peace established by the Paris Agreement of 27^th January 1993. After that the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam initiated a recovery plan for the country.

The 29-day incursion ended with the last Chinese troops leaving on March 19 and without having forced the Vietnamese out of Cambodia. During the next two decades, both sides stationed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border until the 1999 treaty.

The two sides are still in disagreement over the Spratly islands, a chain in the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.

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China and Vietnam Agree on Land Border