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Vietnam faces a delicate balancing act between opposing Chinese moves that infringe on its sovereignty while maintaining close ties with its giant neighbor and major trading partner that were forged over decades by the ruling Communist Party.
Vietnam and China’s coast guards conducted their third joint patrol this year in the northern Gulf of Tonkin on Thursday.
Teodoro said Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN plays an important role in ensuring peace and stability and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea.
“We discussed taking more concrete and more effective steps together with our ASEAN partners to ensure that these aspirations of all ASEAN peoples continue through concrete cooperation and interaction, while emphasizing the primacy of international law,” he said.
Although Vietnam and the Philippines have overlapping claims to the Sway Islands in the South China Sea, with each occupying atolls and reefs, both countries have expressed a desire to cooperate to resolve the dispute.
Earlier this month, the two countries’ coast guards held their first joint exercise in Manila, simulating a firefighting drill and a search and rescue exercise.
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