Good morning Vietnam

By Wen Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-05 10:33

They come to Hekou county to buy and sell everything from fruit to clothing. The race across the border can take up to an hour every morning.

"Here I can earn money easily, almost the same amount as what a white-collar worker in Vietnam can earn in a good month," says 23-year-old Vietnamese vendor Bui Van Son in fluent Chinese. He has been selling ornaments and trinkets in Hekou, located opposite Vietnam's Lao Cai City, for three years.

On the border, any mention of war between the two sides three decades ago, is carefully avoided.

"We are not concerned with politics, we care only about business," says a Chinese woman named Lu. She lives in the border city of Dongxing in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region but sells garments in a rented Vietnamese shop in Mong Cai City.

The border troops too eschew any talk of past differences.

"We greet each other while patrolling, saying hello in simple English, Chinese or Vietnamese or with just a gesture," says Bai Jianming, a Chinese soldier in Yunnan.

"Now and then, we smoke or have a chat together."

The two sides hold scheduled, and sometimes even unscheduled, talks during which disputes between the armies and civilians are dealt with. This informal process keeps military confrontation at bay.

"We discuss illegal cross-border activities such as lumbering, hunting and farming," says Liu Jianbao, a military officer with the Yunnan border troops.

"We also invite one another to come over to the other's land for celebrations during holidays.

"This dialogue mechanism helps ease tension and boosts mutual trust."

Chinese and Vietnamese histories intertwine over two millennia and both nations share similar milestones. Both their modern histories are marked by invasions by foreign powers, and the choice of communism as a way of governance.

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