(Photo : Looking away toward the uninhabited parts of Lantau, minor islands, and the South China Sea beyond, from Tian Tan Buddha at Po Lin Monastery.)

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The disagreements consist of the nautical border in the Tonkin Gulf plus nautical borders off the coasts of Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. There is an additional disagreement in the waters near Indonesia's Natuna Islands. Moreover, there are disagreements amid different island chains of the South China Sea basin, including the Paracel and the Spratly Islands.

The interests of various nations include the budding development of suspected crude oil and natural gas under waters of various parts of the South China Sea, acquisition of fishing areas around the two archipelagos and the premeditated control of important shipping lanes.

Amid the fiery arguments over the South China Sea, Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh met up last August 28 in Beijing after they vowed to resolve the disagreement between the two countries with regards to the controversial South China Sea.

Restating China's standpoint, Foreign Minister Wang said that the two countries should push ahead with nautical cooperation and work hand in hand to control disagreement and turn challenges into prospects.

Foreign Minister Pham, on the other hand stated, that the Vietnamese side is all geared up to resolve the disagreement and work together with China for the steadiness in the area.

Foreign Minister Wang and Pham, during the meeting, settled to maintain high-level communication, amplify cultural and youth-to-youth exchanges and advance cooperation in trade and inter-connectivity to lay a more concrete social foundation for a better relationship.

Vietnam affixed great importance to knots with China and stands all set to enhance strategic cooperation between the two countries in a constant way, according to Foreign minister Pham.

Other than the said meeting with foreign minister Wang, Foreign Minister Pham is in Beijing to attend a special China-ASEAN foreign ministers convention on Thursday in marking the 10^th year anniversary of the formation of the China-ASEAN strategic partnership.

A lot of people hopes with crossed-fingers that this will be a good start of a smooth and better relationship between China and Vietnam and paves a way to resolve huge issues about the South China Sea.