China's Top Officer To Visit Vietnam Amid South China Sea Dispute

By NIAM SEET WEI BEIJING, Dec 22 (Bernama) -- China's top political advisor Yu Zhengsheng is expected to visit Vietnam later this month amid the South China Sea dispute between both countries, said Xinhua news agency. Yu's visit was at the invitation of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Xinhua quoted a spokesman of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Yu is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Ties between China and Vietnam have remained strained after China deployed an oil rig HYSY 981, on May 2, near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, which is also claimed by Vietnam. A series of anti-China protests triggered in Vietnam following the deployment of the Chinese oil rig in the disputed waters had resulted in more than a dozen foreign-owned factories torched by protesters. Though Vietnam had submitted its position to a UN arbitration tribunal, China has rejected the UN arbitration and asserted to settle the issue through direct bilateral negotiations. -- BERNAMA