[Lateline 4/4/97] China's main offshore oil firm said on Friday it was withdrawing an oil exploration rig that sparked a diplomatic crisis with Vietnam when it started drilling in disputed waters between the two countries, Reuter reported. "The exploration work (of the oil rig Kan Tan III) has been completed, the plan is for it to leave during these two days," said an official of the China National Offshore Oil Corp.
He said it was not clear if the Kan Tan III had already left the area, where it had been drilling exploratory wells between China's tropical Hainan Island and Vietnam's central coast, but said the rig's withdrawal was assured.
Hanoi and Beijing have agreed to hold talks over the territorial dispute sparked by the activities of the Kan Tan III in a disputed area of the South China Sea. Vietnamese naval officials said on Friday China had moved the rig away from the area.
A Vietnamese spokesman said on Thursday that Hanoi and Beijing would hold expert-level talks in the Chinese capital on April 9 to resolve the dispute over sovereignty of the potentially resource-rich area.
This next article was published at the South China Morning Post web page on 4/5/97.
China last night denied that an offshore oil rig, drilling in waters claimed by Vietnam, had been moved out of the area ahead of a meeting between Beijing and Hanoi on the dispute.
"The Kantan III oil rig is carrying out normal activities in Chinese waters," said a high-level China National Offshore Oil Corporation official directly involved with the controversial drilling project.
Foreign media reports earlier yesterday said China had withdrawn the rig from the contested area in the South China Sea.
China and Vietnam will meet in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss the dispute, which flared on March 7 when the Chinese rig moved into the contested area prompting Vietnam to demand China move it.
In Hanoi, the head of the Vietnamese negotiating team, Nguyen Ba Son, said he had not received any notification of the rig's removal.
Vietnam and China both claim the territory in which the rig is operating - a potentially gas-rich area 119 kilometres from Vietnam's coast and 130 km from China's Hainan Island.
China has dismissed Vietnam's claim to the area and has declared the operations of its rig to be beyond criticism, but President Jiang Zemin yesterday had friendly words for visiting Vietnamese Interior Minister Le Minh Huong.
Mr Jiang called on the two sides to shelve their differences and return to the spirit of co-operation that marked their "revolutionary struggles".
"In a complex and ever-changing world, furthering Sino-Vietnamese friendship and co-operation is not only in the interests of the two peoples, but contributes to peace and stability in the whole Asia-Pacific region," Mr Jiang told his guest.
He stressed that China and Vietnam had a long history of friendship and that furthering ties was vital.