World IN BRIEF : VIETNAM : China Seeks Renewal of Diplomatic Ties

China, in a national day message to Vietnam, has called for the “early restoration” of relations with its former Communist ally, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. “China and Vietnam are two close neighbors, and their two peoples have had time-honored friendship,” the agency quoted a message from Chinese President Yang Shangkun as saying. Relations between the two countries, close allies during the Vietnam War, became increasingly strained at the end of the war and broke down completely after Vietnam’s 1978 invasion of Cambodia, which ousted the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge government.