The Party, State and people of Vietnam pursue a consistent policy of treasuring the friendship and cooperation with China, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has said.

The Party leader made the affirmation at a June 18 reception for Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who is in Hanoi for a meeting of the Chairs of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam wishes to preserve, consolidate and continuously develop bilateral relations in a healthy and stable manner for the essential and long-term interests of both peoples, said General Secretary Trong, who spoke highly of the positive developments in the Vietnam-China relationship in recent years.

However, he stressed the seriousness and negative impacts of China’s placement of its oilrig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s waters since early May on the Vietnamese people, the bilateral relations and the regional situation.

He affirmed that Vietnam’s standpoint on its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes and the East Sea is unchanged and unchangeable.

The Party chief suggested the two sides urgently seek measures to soon stabilize the situation, creating a premise for basic and long-term solutions to sea-related issues, deriving from the overall interests of the two countries and on the basis of agreements reached by their high-ranking leaders and international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

For his part, Yang asserted that the Chinese Party and Government attach special importance to and wish to develop a long-term and stable good relationship with Vietnam.

He expressed hope that the two sides will continue discussing ways to ease tensions and solve sea-related issues. He also agreed on the need to continue maintaining exchanges and cooperation between the two nations in various fields as well as joint efforts to preserve the healthy and stable development of the Vietnam-China relations.