Hu Jintao

China pledged to support Vietnam's efforts to join the World Trade Organization, signing three agreements on market access. The communist neighbors agreed to speed up a project to define their disputed land border and vowed to work together in developing the South China Sea, where several nations have competing claims to areas believed to be rich in oil and mineral deposits.

In recent years, Vietnam has sought to learn from China's successes in modernizing and developing its economy while maintaining one-party communist rule. After a 1979 border war, they normalized relations in 1991.

On his second visit, Luong was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien and more than 70 businessmen.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 23, 2005
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