On June 19, 2013, China News reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping recently met with Vietnamese President Zhang Jin in Beijing. Xi suggested that the two nations should prevent the issues of the South China Sea from interfering in the relationship between the two neighbors. Xi said China is determined to solve the issues in a political manner such as bilateral negotiations and friendly discussions. China called for stopping any activity that would further complicate the situation and for avoiding the internationalization of the issues. President Zhang agreed to the friendly negotiation approach and suggested that Vietnam is willing to participate actively in the joint delimitation effort as well as the peaceful joint development plan. Vietnam also does not want the issues to be a threat to the relationship between the two countries. The China News report described the meeting as “friendly and frank.”
Source: China News, June 19, 2013
http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2013/06-19/4947354.shtml