For much of this year, the Philippines, with the encouragement and prodding of the United States, has been constantly stoking tensions in the South China Sea, repeatedly staging provocations over China’s Ren’ai Reef and Huangyan Island.
Manila has become a willing bridgehead in the US’ “Indo-Pacific” strategy, which is aimed at containing China by sowing the seeds of discord and confrontation in the region. The US’ disruptive antics run counter to the region’s aspirations.
Beijing has shown the utmost restraint to Manila’s provocations and has sought to do everything it can to stabilize the waters and calm the regional situation. In March, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries agreed to carry out practical marine cooperation projects and jointly uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea.
In September, when attending a series of meetings among Asian countries in Jakarta, Indonesia, Premier Li Qiang emphasized the importance of maintaining regional peace and stability by actively advancing consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. China and ASEAN are finalizing the COC, and progress has been made in its formulation this year, which has helped accelerate the consultations and contributed to an early conclusion of the COC in the near future.
In light of all this, the outcomes of the 15th Meeting of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in Hanoi on Friday were a positive indication that other countries in the region are also willing to bear the bigger picture in mind and work with China for the good of the region as a whole.
Co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the meeting, which is a key mechanism for overall coordination and planning of bilateral cooperation, produced a meaningful consensus that marks the meeting has made a significant contribution not only to China-Vietnam relations, but also to regional cohesion and cooperation.
With such advantages as geographical proximity, industrial complementarity and similar views on regional and global issues, Beijing and Hanoi have everything to gain from strengthening their cooperation over a wide range of fields, such as economic affairs and trade, interconnectivity, security, counterterrorism and combating telecommunications fraud.
Meanwhile, consensus on maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea not only acts as a pacifier to help calm the current tumultuous waters stirred up by Washington and Manila but also gives a strong boost to the regional efforts to build lasting peace.
The consensus between Hanoi and Beijing sends the important signal that the strenuous efforts being made by countries in the region to maintain peace and stability will not be derailed by the shenanigans of the US and the Philippines.
Source : ChinaDaily
