Talks highlight joint efforts to build Vietnam-China shared borderline of peace, friendship and development

General Ngo Xuan Lich, Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Defense Minister of Vietnam, and Senior Lieutenant General Fan Changlong, Politburo member, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, co-chaired the talks.

Before the talks, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, member of the Party Central Committee, permanent member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Defense Minister, and a high-ranking delegation of the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam hosted a reception at Ma Lu Thang Border Gate in Lai Chau province for the high-ranking Chinese delegation, led by Senior Lieutenant General Fan Changlong.

Joining hands in building Vietnam-China shared borderline of peace, friendship, stability and development

During the talks, the two sides exchanged frankly and openly their experiences to help boost mutual understanding and a long-lasting relationship between the two countries’ armies and peoples and the mutual support between Vietnamese and Chinese localities with the shared borderline.

They all agreed that the local authorities, peoples and border guard forces in the areas of shared borderline have tightened their effective cooperation via a number of activities, even the smallest one, contributing to reinforcing trust among them and to building a real Vietnam-China shared borderline of peace, friendship, stability and development which helps boost the relationship between the Parties, States, peoples and armies of the two countries.

Addressing the meeting, Major General Hoang Ngoc Dung, Deputy Commander of Military Region 2, confirmed that the region’s armed forces have implemented active integration and promoted the efficiency of the defense external service in line with the standpoints of the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense as well as expanded its cooperation with foreign partners while attaching much importance to the solidarity, friendship, peace and stability in border provinces of Vietnam and China and Vietnam and Laos.

In his opinion, Nguyen Bao Ngoc, Head of Tan Thanh Border Gate Customs Branch in Lang Son province observed that based on the reality in Lang Son - Guangxi borderline, the external activities of the two provinces’ authorities and functional forces, including the customs service, have bolstered local trade and tourism development. Besides, those activities have promoted mutual understanding and exchanges between the two countries’ border forces, contributing to their fulfillment of the assigned tasks. 

Emphasizing the advantages of twinning activities between villages of shared borderline localities, Luong Duc To, Vice Chairman of the Phuc Hoa district People’s Committee in Cao Bang province said that since 2015, the provincial Border Guard Command has teamed up with Phuc Hoa district to give recommendations to the provincial Party and People’s Committees to twin Lung Om hamlet of Dai Son commune with Nage hamlet of Shuikou town in the Chinese province of Guangxi in May 2015. The twinned hamlets share a borderline on river and have had goods exchanges and visits.

Experience sharing to boost mutual trust and understanding

It is clear that the Vietnam-China border cooperation agreement is one of the important documents that helps enhance the ties between the two countries’ border guard forces.

Major General Zhangjian, Deputy Commander and Commander of the Ground Forces of the Southern Theater of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, said that the Party, Government and Army of China have always paid due attention to the solidarity and friendship with Vietnam. It is featured in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s consistent guidelines and orientations on defense external service with Vietnam.

The Chinese general also emphasized that the effective innovative models carried out by the border guards of Vietnam and two Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi have contributed to ensuring defense security and protecting the borderline and border-markers in the border areas of Guangxi and Yunnan provinces and seven other border provinces of Vietnam.

He added that the Chinese side affirmed to direct affiliates of the Southern Theater to develop plans and realize the contents of the revised border cooperation agreement, to boost joint patrols to ensure border security, to consolidate trust between the two armies and peoples and to contribute to building the Vietnam - China shared borderline of peace, friendship, long-term stability, cooperation and development.

Confirming the efficiency in border external activities, Colonel Duong Bien Ban, Commander of Kim Binh district Border Guard Command said that the unit has carried out a number of specific cooperation activities with other border posts in Lai Chau and Lao Cai provinces and joined hands in performing tasks of border demarcation and border-mark planting (before 2009). It has also established bilateral patrol mechanism at post and battalion levels, boosted information dissemination and education for each side’s people and troops to strictly observe agreements signed between the two governments on border protection, making contribution to building a peaceful, friendly and stable borderline.

The two sides’ cooperation has featured border security protection exercises as well. According to Colonel Xu Yunbo, Head of Jin Shuihe Border Checkpoint of Yunnan provincial Border Armed Police Force, many Chinese border police units have cooperated with Vietnamese Border Guard force to conduct such exercises, gradually establishing a cooperation framework in response to urgent situations as well as an operation mechanism in international law enforcement. Through those exercises, the engaged forces have improved their combat skills, ensured information and communication and combined operation capability.

Translated by Mai Huong