China and Vietnam have agreed to settle peacefully a dispute over maritime

China and Vietnam have agreed to settle peacefully a dispute over maritime territory in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday.

Chinese vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun and his visiting Vietnamese counterpart Ho Xuan Son signed an agreement pledging to settle their disputes over the potentially oil-rich waters through “negotiations and friendly consultations”, Xinhua said.

The communist neighbors also agreed to set up a hotline to “properly deal with maritime issues” and pledged to promote maritime cooperation in “less sensitive fields” such as environmental protection and scientific research.

China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner but they have a long-standing dispute over sovereignty of the Paracel and Spratly island groups, which straddle vital commercial shipping lanes in what Vietnam calls the East Sea.