1 killed, 5 injured in Vietnam-China border clash in May

Asian Political News, July 22, 2002

HANOI, July 16 Kyodo

A Chinese police officer was killed and five other security personnel were injured when Vietnamese and Chinese forces exchanged fire in a border clash on May 6, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) sources revealed Tuesday.

Armed Chinese police from Yunnan Province, southwestern China, and Vietnamese forces exchanged fire when the Chinese personnel crossed into the Muong Khuong district in Lao Kai while tracking a criminal gang, the sources said quoting information from China.

In the gunbattle, one Chinese officer was killed and two other Chinese officers wounded. Three Vietnamese personnel were also injured, the sources said.

Vietnam detained four Chinese officers until June 2 on suspicion of intentionally crossing the border, the sources said.

The two countries, however, handled the clash as a contingent incident, placing priority on maintaining improved bilateral relations, the sources said.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry denied the incident, saying it was groundless.

The two countries fought a brief but bloody border war in early 1979 when China invaded Vietnam to punish Hanoi for ousting the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia.

The two communist neighbors, which share a land border that stretches about 1,350 kilometers, signed a land-border deal in late 1999.

In December 2000, they also signed a sea-border agreement demarcating territorial waters and exclusive economic zones.

But setting up border signs following the accord has long been delayed, the sources said. Vietnam plans to set up 1,500 signs over three years, a Foreign Ministry official said.

In addition, China still claims most of the South China Sea, which is separated from the Gulf of Tonkin primarily by the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

A large area of territory and numerous islands in the sea, such as the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands, are claimed by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited Hanoi in February and agreed with Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh and President Tran Duc Luong to further promote bilateral relations.

Jiang's visit reciprocated Manh's visit to China late last year.

Vietnam, a member of the 10-nation ASEAN, and China are among the world's last remaining communist countries. The two countries normalized diplomatic relations in November 1991.