Biden cautions China in its dispute with Vietnam

US Vice President Joe Biden. AP FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden is conveying America’s objections about China’s behavior in a territorial dispute with Vietnam to the top brass of the Chinese military.

Biden met Thursday with Fang Fenghui, the military’s general chief of staff. The White House says Biden told Fang the U.S. was seriously concerned about China’s unilateral actions.

Biden told Fang the U.S. doesn’t take a side in the territorial confrontation between the two countries over an area in the South China Sea. That’s where China has triggered protests in Vietnam by deploying an oil rig in the long-disputed seas. One person has been killed, a Chinese worker in Vietnam.

But Biden says no nation should take provocative steps in the conflict that undermine stability and peace.

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