No breakthroughs in maritime talks

No breakthroughs in maritime talks

HANOI (AFP): Talks between Vietnam and China on maritime limits in the Gulf of Tonkin have ended without any breakthroughs but were considered productive, a Vietnamese official said yesterday.

A member of Vietnam's Marine Affairs Department of the National Border Committee and Continental Shelf Committee close to the talks said the two sides "are always making progress".

The two countries held expert level talks from March 24 through March 30, the 10th such meetings to discuss overlapping claims in the Gulf of Tonkin, and agreed to hold the 11th meeting in Hanoi at the end of the year, he said.

During a visit to Beijing by then Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Do Muoi in December, Vietnam and China agreed to accelerate negotiations with the aim of settling their disputes by 2000.