1 - President Tran Duc Luong of Vietnam paid an official visit to China from July 18-22, 2005 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

During the visit, President Luong held talks with President Hu Jintao, met with Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin. In an atmosphere of sincerity and friendship, leaders of the two countries conducted in-depth discussions and reached a common understanding on consolidating and strengthening bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern. The visit was a success, playing an active role in bolstering the friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive co-operation between Vietnam and China.

2 - The two sides were pleased to note that a momentum has been created for bilateral ties between the two Parties and States to develop under the guidelines "friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive co-operation, long-lasting stability, and future orientation". The two sides were of the same view that the Sino-Vietnamese friendship is a precious asset of the two countries and peoples that should be highly appreciated. Vietnamese and Chinese leaders agreed to maintain the exchange of high-level visits to increase mutual understanding and trust; intensify friendly exchange activities and mutually beneficial co-operation in various domains and unceasingly strive to create a new development stage for relations between Vietnam and China.

3 - The two sides expressed satisfaction at the remarkable fruits of bilateral trade and business ties. In an active and practical spirit, the two sides agreed to steadily expand trade ties while reducing the current unbalanced situation in two-way trade; speed up the implementation of co-operation projects; actively encourage and assist business circles of the two countries to conduct long-term co-operation in infrastructure development and major industrial production projects while unceasingly raising co-operation scope and quality; closely co-ordinate and soon complete the survey report on developing two economic corridors and the Tonkin Gulf economic belt and to quickly resolve obstacles and outstanding issues arising during the course of conducting economic and trade co-operation so as to facilitate the implementation of co-operation projects between the two countries' businesspeople.

4 - The two sides declared the completion of bilateral negotiations on trade liberation relating to Vietnam's admission to the World Trade Organisation. The Vietnamese and Chinese leaders held the same view that the move will open up prospects for multi-faceted bilateral co-operation, particularly in the trade and business areas. The Vietnamese leader expressed sincere thanks and spoke highly of China's support for the country.

5 - The two sides were of the same view that the land border demarcation and planting of border markers was progressing quickly. They agreed to continue accelerating the process so as to complete the demarcation and planting of border markers along the entire common borderline and sign new documents on border management regulations by 2008 at the latest.

The two sides made active assessments on the implementation of the Tonkin Gulf Demarcation Agreement and the Agreement on Fisheries Co-operation in the Tonkin Gulf. Leaders of the two countries pledged to continue strict execution of the two accords, exert joint efforts to ensure marine security and order in fishery development and promptly start up co-operation in exploring and exploiting the oil and gas structure crossing the demarcation line of the Tonkin Gulf. They also agreed to undertake a joint survey on fisheries resources in the common Tonkin Gulf fishing areas between now and the end of the year, conduct joint patrol between two countries' Naval forces in the Tonkin Gulf and start up negotiations on the demarcation of the areas outside the gulf.

Both sides highly valued the "Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in the Agreement Area in the East Sea" signed in March this year by three oil and gas companies of Vietnam, China and the Philippines, with the view that the signing of this agreement has had a positive impact on maintaining stability at sea. Both sides agreed that the agreement should be implemented properly, and work should be started early for the co-operation to achieve good results.

The two sides agreed to adhere to the principles of the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea" (DoC), the common understanding reached by high-level leaders of the two countries, and multi-lateral commitments in order to preserve stable conditions in the East Sea. The two sides agreed to continue keeping the negotiation mechanism in place for sea issues and stick to peaceful negotiation to seek a basic and long-term solution acceptable by both sides.

6. The Vietnamese government reiterated its consistent policy of "one China", supporting China's great cause of unification and firmly protest all activities for an "independent Taiwan" under any form. The Vietnamese government understands and supports the anti-secession law adopted by the Chinese National People's Congress, while welcoming the recent trend of détente in the cross-strait relationship. Vietnam only maintains people-to-people economic and trade exchange with Taiwan and has no official relation with Taiwan.

7. The two sides were unanimous that the reform of the United Nations should help enhance the organisation's role, prestige, working efficiency and capacity in coping with new challenges and threats, as well as in maintaining international peace and security, promoting common development of its member nations and serving the implementation of millennium development goals. The two sides were of the view that the reform of the UN Security Council should be based on the UN's long-term interests and in conformity with the principle of democratising international relations, broad consultation and taking into account the interests of related parties. The two sides will continue to exchange views on this issue.

The two sides agreed to continue strengthening their co-operation and co-ordination within multi-lateral mechanisms such as the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the Greater Sub-Mekong Region.

8. President Tran Duc Luong invited President Hu Jintao to pay an official visit to Vietnam in late 2005 and attend the 14th APEC Summit in Hanoi at the end of 2006. President Hu Jintao accepted the invitation with pleasure.