China, Vietnam Conduct Joint Naval Patrols in Gulf of Tonkin

AFP: China and Vietnam are conducting joint military patrols off the Gulf of Tonkin, the first-time the Chinese navy has taken part in military exercises with another country, state press said April 28.

The patrols began April 27 and it is hoped they will help “order and stability” in the gulf the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.

The neighbors signed an agreement in October to begin the joint patrols when Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra met with his counterpart Cao Gangchuan in Beijing.

In August 2005, the two sides agreed to speed up the demarcation of their shared border and were expected to finalize a treaty that would also include neighboring Laos within a year’s time.

China invaded Vietnam in February 1979 following Hanoi’s intervention in Cambodia to oust Beijing’s Khmer Rouge allies.

The two nations fought again in 1988 over the disputed Spratly Islands, a potentially oil-rich archipelago in the South China Sea that both sides claim.

Relations were normalized in 1991, when both sides agreed to engage in a marathon border demarcation process.