US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (right) reviews the honor guard with General Phung Quang Thanh, Vietnam's defense minister, during a welcoming ceremony in Hanoi on Monday. Hoang Dinh Nam / Reuters

China urges parties to increase regional trust and promote peace

The Pentagon chief's call for an end to all construction work on South China Sea islands did not receive a clear endorsement from Hanoi on Monday despite closer US-Vietnam military cooperation and simmering maritime tensions in the region.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter discussed his proposal in talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, General Phung Quang Thanh, making a direct plea after earlier calling on all countries involved to immediately halt construction work on the islands.

Responding to Carter's visit to Vietnam, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed hope that parties would do more to increase trust between regional countries as well as promote peace and stability in the region.

Carter said at a joint news conference that Vietnam was considering the idea, while Thanh said Vietnam had not expanded its islands, but had carried out work to prevent "waves and erosion".

Carter's first trip to Vietnam as defense secretary came in the wake of the latest round of verbal exchanges between China and the US over the South China Sea, at a regional security forum in Singapore.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Carter acknowledged that several countries, including Vietnam, had conducted land reclamation projects in the region, but said Chinese activity had outstripped the others and raised questions about Beijing's long-term intentions.

Admiral Sun Jianguo, deputy chief of the General Staff of China's People's Liberation Army, rebutted Carter's criticism, saying China's construction on the Nansha Islands is not targeting any country or impeding freedom of navigation.

Washington recently adjusted its South China Sea policy by not just targeting China, but also adopting a "neutral" stance by pressing other countries involved in construction work on islands to halt their activities, said Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Peking University.

Vietnam faces a dilemma as it seeks to improve ties with the US but won't like to be pressed by it over the South China Sea issue, said Yang, adding Hanoi is likely to continue pursuing balanced diplomacy between the US and China.

As parts of the expanding cooperation, Carter and Thanh signed a Joint Vision Statement on Monday to guide their countries' military cooperation.

One day earlier, Carter had visited the Vietnamese navy and coast guard headquarters and pledged $18 million to help Vietnam buy US patrol boats.

Qi Jianguo, a former Chinese ambassador to Vietnam, said the overall relationship between the US and Vietnam has warmed recently, but it could not be described as a relationship of allies, mainly due to sharp ideological differences.

Their closer ties could hardly affect the Sino-Vietnamese relationship, which has been improving after being hit by tension in the South China Sea in May 2014, Qi said.

High-level exchanges between Beijing and Hanoi have recovered since August, most notably with the visit of Vietnam's Communist Party chief, Nguyen Phu Trong, to China in April, he added.

Reuters contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn