Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh (right) and Chinese State Counsellor and FM Wang Yi on August 23 co-chair a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-China Land Border Treaty. (Photo:baoquocte.vn)

In November 1957, the  Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Vietnam (now the Communist Party of Vietnam) sent a letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China asking the two sides to respect the historical border line defined in the two Conventions on Border Delineation signed in 1887 and 1895 by the French administration in Indochina and the Qing dynasty in China who agreed to settle all disputes through negotiations. 

In April 1958, China’s Party Central Committee agreed with Vietnam’s request to respect the historical border line defined by the above-mentioned Conventions. 

But not until the signing of the Paris Agreement in January 1973, did negotiations on the Vietnam-China land border start. The first round of negotiations was held in August 1974 and ended without any outcome due to several reasons. 

Negotiation process of Vietnam-China land border delineation

After Vietnam-China ties were normalized in 1991, the two countries signed a provisional Treaty on the Settlement of Land Border Issues. In 1993, Vietnam and China signed an Agreement on Fundamental Principles on the Settlement of Border-related Issues between the two countries. 

In 1999, the Land Border Treaty between the Social Republic of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of China was signed.

On the basis of the 1999 agreement, the two sides jointly conducted field surveys to demarcate 1,970 border markers along their border of nearly 1,450 km. In 2008, the two countries basically completed the demarcation and plantation of border markers. 

In 2010, the two countries officially announced the enforcement of documents concerning border delineation and border marker plantation and border management between Vietnam and China. 

A land border is clearly defined 

The Vietnam-China Land Border Treaty marks a new important step in building a peaceful and stable environment between the two countries and in the region. For the first time in history, a land border line between the 2 countries was clearly defined with modern border markers, laying a firm foundation for the building of a border of peace, friendship, long-term stability, cooperation and development and opening a new page in the history of Vietnam-China ties. 

With the Land Border Treaty and the completion of border demarcation and border marker plantation, the signing of the Treaty on the Demarcation of Waters, Exclusive Economic Zone, and Continental Shelf in the Tonkin Gulf and the Agreement on Fisheries Cooperation in the Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam has settled two of the three major territorial and border issues with China. The Land Border Treaty reflects Vietnam’s goodwill and determination to settle all border-related disputes with neighboring countries on the basis of respecting sovereignty, territorial integrity and in line with international law and practice.