Vietnamese Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe and other delegates to the friendship talks held at the Convention Center of Cao Bang province on November 20, including the border protection forces, local authorities and people living along the borderline of the two countries, all acknowledged the benefits.
Since the first edition held in 2014, a number of border protection cooperation models have been effectively and practically carried out. These include the twinning model “Friendship posts-battalions, peaceful borders” conducted by affiliated units of Chinese Mengzi border guards and Vietnamese Lao Cai provincial border posts.
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Vietnamese Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe |
Other cooperation models between the border guard force in the seven Northern provinces of Vietnam along the shared borderline and the border protection force of the two Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi, such as “Building a model borderline”, “Patrol of solidarity”, “Vietnam-China border friendship garden”, disaster relief exercises, have actively contributed to promoting border management, maintaining social order and security in border localities of the two sides and peaceful life for local people, and enhancing ties between the two border protection forces.
As an invited guest to the talks, Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, said that the exchange not only was an activity of the bilateral defense cooperation, but also pragmatically benefited the two sides’ border people.
The Vietnamese general emphasized that after each border exchange, cooperation between the border localities and exchange between the border people of the two countries become more active and effective. Furthermore, the ties between the two countries’ border people become closer, more joint cultural exchanges are held, more visits between them are made, more mutual socio-economic supports are rendered across the border, and more joint activities in protecting the shared border are carried out.
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Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh at the talks |
During each exchange, new friendly cultural houses, tourism, trade and cultural exchange centers are put into operation, contributing to connecting the two countries’ people and opening up more new opportunities for trade, tourism, economic development and agricultural production in the beneficiary localities.
It is worth noting that after five years of the signing of the agreement on the establishment of a friendly relationship, the border trade between Vietnam’s Phuc Hoa district and China’s Longzhou county has surged. In the 2013-2015 period, the import-export turnover via the Ta Lung-Shuikou border gates reached over USD 7 billion.
The clear practical benefits in various fields have proved that such a border exchange is a cooperation mechanism that needs to be maintained and promoted in innovated approaches to make it more practical with long-term efficiency.
According to Gen. Vinh, during the talks in Longzhou country on November 19, the Vietnamese and Chinese Defense Ministers both underscored the importance and special significance of the exchange and the need to renew the mechanism to bring more benefits to people and troops on both sides of the shared border in particular and the two countries in general.
“The border exchange mainly aims to bring peace and happiness to people living on both sides of the shared borderline so that they could live a better life and contribute more to their country’s construction and development cause,” said Gen. Vinh. He added that in the coming time, local people should be encouraged to get actively engaged in the exchange to promote the building of a land borderline of peace and development between Vietnam and China, and that the exchange should take the people as the center and target as well.
Meanwhile, Senior Colonel Yang Binbin, Commander of Mengzi border guard, the Chinese province of Yunnan held that to bring into full play the efficiency of the exchange, the two countries should boost border cooperation on the basic principles of equality, mutual respect and observance of each country’s laws and terms of the signed agreements; work out measures to build a stable borderline, boost local economic development, expand cultural and sport exchanges to reinforce solidarity and friendship between the two countries and peoples.
On November 20 afternoon, after the success of the friendship talks, the Vietnamese and Chinese Defense Ministers signed in a minute of the border exchange.
Translated by Mai Huong