China's relationship with Vietnam

Guys I know for a fact that China and Vietnam fought a war against each other and both nations lay claim to a chain of islands in the South China seas. Currently, what is the relationship between these two countries?

What is the official Chinese governments position and also what is your personal opinion. I am studying international relations (Specialising in Asia-Pacific relations) so it will be good if I can have personal opinions from real chinese people who are interested in defence and international affairs.

after 1990, the situation between china and VM had soften up. and not very long after that, viet nam had declared the war was a wrong war with china, unoffically, since viet nam needs china and soviet union no longer existed and sure wont support viet nam anymore, which they didn't very much anyway, viet nam is more and more pro china. but as a nation, which is expecting to somehow rule the indo china, they are still playing as a threat to china, especially with the islands' problem. but i don't see it a great issue, since viet nam is like a poppet to china, with our greatest enemy in asia is japan, and island problem with japan. i won't worry about viet nam very much, since they were never a great problem for the last a couple thousand years. they weren't a problem back then, and they won't become a problem right now.
which i could quote a line by Moe from "the simpsons"
"....you know, one of those 3rd world loser countries"
i myself respect viet namese people though. and in fact, when many viet namese people were pretty friendly to me when i was in high school, and even a viet namese girl madly fell inlove with my best friend......

bdmilitary said:

Guys I know for a fact that China and Vietnam fought a war against each other and both nations lay claim to a chain of islands in the South China seas. Currently, what is the relationship between these two countries?
What is the official Chinese governments position and also what is your personal opinion. I am studying international relations (Specialising in Asia-Pacific relations) so it will be good if I can have personal opinions from real chinese people who are interested in defence and international affairs.

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Basically they agreed that the islands weren't worth shooting each other over and opted for joint-exploration and development of the resources:


4//Xinhuanet, China--JOINT EXPORATION OF SOUTH CHINA SEA AGREED (Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Khai agreed on Monday that the two countries, together with the Philippines, should jointly explore and develop the disputed areas on the South China Sea. During a meeting with Phan on the sidelines of the second summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation in this capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Wen said he hoped that oil companies from the three countries would start joint prospecting on the South China Sea as soon as possible. Phan responded that Vietnam would work together with China and the Philippines to promote the development of the three-nation joint exploration. … He also called for expanded cooperation with Vietnam in major infrastructure construction projects and in tapping resources, especially in the exploration of mineral resources and power plant construction.)

My personal opinion is that of all the East-Asian countries influenced by China culturally, Vietnam is on top of the list. They might not use Chinese characters today, but they still celebrate the same holidays like Mid-Autumn festival (Têt-Trung-Thu), lit lanterns and eat mooncakes.

At personal levels there aren't that many conflicts. But economically Vietnam absolutely hate to compete against the lower labor costs in China. Many times in the past, Vietnam has accused Chinese provines of keeping minimum wages low, and depressing wages in across in Vietnam.

Militarily, without Soviet/Russian backing, the Vietnamese aren't stupid and know their navy wont' last 2 hours against the PLAN. Since conflict isn't an option, they're willing to comprimise on the Spratley claim and seek maximum gains through negotiations.

adeptitus said:

Basically they agreed that the islands weren't worth shooting each other over and opted for joint-exploration and development of the resources:

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For now and the Future this is the best option for peace.

My personal opinion is that of all the East-Asian countries influenced by China culturally, Vietnam is on top of the list. They might not use Chinese characters today, but they still celebrate the same holidays like Mid-Autumn festival (Têt-Trung-Thu), lit lanterns and eat mooncakes.

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What you say are true, but for some unknown reason. The countries who influenced by china the most, Personally I see them tends to be more hostile toward China.

At personal levels there aren't that many conflicts. But economically Vietnam absolutely hate to compete against the lower labor costs in China. Many times in the past, Vietnam has accused Chinese provines of keeping minimum wages low, and depressing wages in across in Vietnam.

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The conflicts were not that great, but the mistrust and hatred still linger for many years to come. Many Vietnamese are still dislike China for these.

Militarily, without Soviet/Russian backing, the Vietnamese aren't stupid and know their navy wont' last 2 hours against the PLAN. Since conflict isn't an option, they're willing to comprimise on the Spratley claim and seek maximum gains through negotiations.

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Vietnam is very ambitious nation and Vietnamese do have a strong sense of nationalism. They are willing to comprimise on the Spratley because China make steps to appease them. Such as China has give up some controversy lands between Vietnam and China, so the borders could be draw. The Joint development is a good idea, but Vietnam did not stopped their intention to take as many island and resources as they could. If Vietnam become stronger in the future, I would see more tension between China and Vietnam, but hopefully both sides could work more to solve the problems now. So the relationship should built up and trust could overcome difference.

KYli said:

What you say are true, but for some unknown reason. The countries who influenced by china the most, Personally I see them tends to be more hostile toward China.

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Given that China repeatedly tried to exert its hegemony over places like Vietnam, such hostility is rather understandable. They were hardly going to have been happy that their big neighbour was trying to turn them into another Chinese province.

FuManChu said:

Given that China repeatedly tried to exert its hegemony over places like Vietnam, such hostility is rather understandable. They were hardly going to have been happy that their big neighbour was trying to turn them into another Chinese province.

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Big Brother / Little Brother hostility more than anything else.

The Chinese can't understand why the vietnamese won't take their advice and the Vietnamese want to have their own space

Since the end of the Vietnam war, Vietnam has become a "local superpower" in its own right, as it is the dominant nation in Indochina. It has strong influence over both Laos and Cambodia. But China has also being trying to gain influence over these countries to. When the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, they were suppourted by China and opposed by Vietnam. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, this caused the Chinese to invade and start the Sino-Vietnma war. Cambodia is no longer communist, but Laos is, and both China and Vietnam are competing for influence there. So I would say that both countries are still quite suspicous of one another, although relations have repaired recently.

FuManChu said:

Given that China repeatedly tried to exert its hegemony over places like Vietnam, such hostility is rather understandable. They were hardly going to have been happy that their big neighbour was trying to turn them into another Chinese province.

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:rofl:
China is a wonderful nation. China is a peaceful nation. china is a great nation.

Fumanchu don't need to worry. China and vietnam will resolve their difference.

FuManChu said:

Given that China repeatedly tried to exert its hegemony over places like Vietnam, such hostility is rather understandable. They were hardly going to have been happy that their big neighbour was trying to turn them into another Chinese province.

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why are you always trying to start flaming war !!!

every one of your ppost contines topics such as China threaten Japan/korea/taiwan
ever get tired of "china threat "

for a fact i can tell you vietnam kicked out a lot of its chinese citzen in the late 70s this conbimeed with its invasiion of combodia caused the sino -vietnam war

Well flame wars beguns usually when members fall into baits like these so try to build some reasonable converasation before I have to close the thread that has, suprise, suprise...absolutely nothing to do with military...other than re-waging the sino-vietnamese wars so please, there is a dedicated thread for that in the historical forum.

And to Fumanchu, you could have reprhased that sentence into more polite fashion to avoid beeing labeled as a troll