Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on China and Vietnam to solve the South China Sea issue through bilateral consultations.

Xi made the remarks during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, saying that the common interests between the two countries far outweigh the differences.

He said China and Vietnam can manage their differences and promote maritime cooperation through friendly negotiations.Both sides should use the current negotiation mechanisms such as border talks between governments to actively push forward the follow-up work of joint exploration of waters outside the Beibu Gulf, Xi said.

He called on the two countries to achieve substantial progress on the joint development of wider areas of the South China Sea at an early date and transform maritime challenges into opportunities for cooperation. Xenhua