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southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to
check the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest
Vietnamese squatters and armed encroachments along border; an
estimated 300,000 Vietnamese refugees reside in China;
establishment of a maritime boundary with Cambodia is hampered
by unresolved dispute over the sovereignty of offshore islands;
the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary
was completed in 2009; China occupies the Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with
Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan over the
Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions but
falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct"
desired by several of the disputants; Vietnam continues to
expand construction of facilities in the Spratly Islands; in
March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the
Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands
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XUVN.com