Vietnam snubbed visiting Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian (遲浩田) yesterday, insisting it would brook no compromise in its territorial dispute with its giant neighbor in the South China Sea and detailing its military preparedness.
Top officials, military commanders and border guards met to discuss the defense of the disputed Spratly Islands just as Chi held talks with Communist Party chief Le Kha Phieu on Friday, an official daily revealed.
"Vietnam has striven to settle these disputes in a peaceful manner but remains determined to defend its sovereignty over every meter of its sea border," said the newspaper Saigon Giai Phong.
The article was carried on the paper's front page just as Chi was due to travel to Vietnam's commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City following his talks in Hanoi.
The paper revealed for the first time that naval patrols uncovered nearly 300 "violations" last year in areas of the archipelago under Hanoi's control.
"The nature of the disputes remained extremely intense," the paper said, although it acknowledged that there had been "no military clashes."
The "violations" included unauthorized fishing as well as exploitation of oil and other natural resources of the continental shelf.
Although more than half of the islands are under Vietnam's control, they are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, as well as China.
In recent years there have been a string of high-profile incidents involving Chinese encroachments of areas under Philippine control, including one as recently as last month.
But Vietnam had hitherto stayed silent about encroachments in areas under its control.
Friday's meeting decided that the islands should have their own local government just like any other part of Vietnam, Saigon Giai Phong said. "We must rapidly establish an administration for the the islands to solve its administrative problems."
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