A Chinese naval fleet made a port call in Vietnam days after the two nations held talks on joint maritime patrols, as they move closer on defence despite their long-standing disputes over the South China Sea.

The fleet - led by the Changsha, a destroyer, and amphibious warfare ship Jinggangshan - docked in Da Nang on Vietnam's east coast on Saturday, according to a statement from the People's Liberation Army Southern Theatre Command.

It said they were welcomed by Vietnamese navy officials and Chinese diplomats.

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The Chinese navy's port call in Vietnam followed talks on joint patrols. 

The port call came days after the two navies wrapped up a four-day meeting on joint patrols, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. The annual talks focus on management of the Gulf of Tonkin, which is known in China as the Beibu Gulf.

Neither side has released any details of the meeting.

The talks coincided with a joint patrol by the Chinese and Vietnamese coastguards in the northern part of the Gulf of Tonkin, according to the state-run Vietnam News Agency.

It was their fourth such joint patrol, held in waters off the coast of China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Vietnam's Quang Ninh province.

Part of the joint coastguard patrol mechanism that was established this year, the quarterly patrol aimed to "strengthen coordination in combating crimes and legal violations at sea, particularly during the year-end period", according to the Vietnamese report.

The two socialist neighbours have stepped up engagement on maritime issues despite ongoing disputes over their territorial claims.

China's claim to most of the South China Sea overlaps with Vietnam's claims to the eastern waters, which it refers to as the East Sea. They are also among the rival claimants to the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the resource-rich, economically important waterway.

Earlier this year, China also for the first time declared a territorial line in the Gulf of Tonkin that is believed to cover a bigger area than the baseline under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

Vietnam has meanwhile accelerated land reclamation work in the disputed waters this year and conducted its first joint drill with the Philippines in the South China Sea - moves that concerned Beijing.

Despite the tensions, Beijing and Vietnam have held a number of high-level exchanges this year as they seek to move closer.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his counterpart Bui Thanh Son in Beijing earlier this month. Chinese Premier Li Qiang also made a high-profile visit to Hanoi in October. And To Lam made Beijing one of his first stops after becoming Vietnam's new leader, meeting President Xi Jinping in August.

Beijing and Hanoi also set up a bilateral "3+3" dialogue this year, adding public security to the traditional "2+2" of diplomacy and defence.

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