Hanoi (AsiaNews) - A ceremony yesterday marked the completion of the delimiting of the border between Vietnam and China, with the laying (in the photo) of the last boundary marker.
The question of the boundary between the two countries is an historical issue that was ignored on the surface, but created profound friction between the two communist countries. As proof of this, the current marking of the boundary comes after the signing of an agreement on the border in 1999, followed by 12 documents on "legal and technical" questions.
The first stone of demarcation was laid in 2001, at the border crossing of Mong Cai-Dong Xing. On December 31, 2008, when the operation was technically concluded, almost 400 of them had been put in place.
Yesterday's ceremony was held at the border crossing of Huu Nghi (Friendship), in the province of Lang Son. The Chinese call it Youyiguan, and it is part of the autonomous region of Guangxi.
The Vietnamese agency VNA, in reporting on the event, published the ceremonial remarks of the representatives of Vietnam - Pham Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister - and China - Dai Bingguo, Chinese Party Central Committee Member and State Councillor. Kheim said that the two countries have peacefully resolved a question that they inherited from history, and that the completion of the demarcation of the boundary is a sign of the strategy of cooperation between China and Vietnam. The Chinese representative expressed similar considerations.