The Chinese and Vietnamese navies will conduct their 39th joint patrol in the waters of the Beibu Gulf from November 19 to 20, according to a statement from China's Ministry of National Defense. The patrol will be carried out in accordance with existing agreements between the two armed forces, aiming to strengthen pragmatic cooperation and enhance their joint capacity to safeguard the security of these waters. This is a routine exercise limited to the Beibu Gulf, intended to foster confidence, supervised by their defense ministers in a more political than operational gesture. While it reinforces bilateral cooperation, it does not address disputes in the South China Sea. Alongside the patrol, they exchange information on recent border regulation violations, particularly regarding illegal entry and exit, commercial fraud, and drug trafficking. More than a thousand residents in the border area received informational leaflets about laws and regulations.
