Party chief’s visit to bring Vietnam-China relations to new stage

Trong arrived in Beijing on Sunday afternoon, beginning his official three-day visit to the country per an invitation by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

General Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (C) is at Beijing International Airport, China, October 30, 2022. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

In an interview with Vietnam News Agency, ambassador Pham Sao Mai said Trong’s visit is the first by a Vietnamese high-ranking Party and state official to China ever since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

It is Trong’s first overseas trip after the sixth plenum of Vietnam’s 13th Party Central Committee, while Trong is also the first foreign leader to visit China after the latter’s 20th National Congress.

The latest time the two Party leaders met was in November 2017, when Xi officially visited Vietnam and attended the APEC Summit in Da Nang.

The Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership has continued to stay on the path of stable and positive development, and has achieved several important achievements on the political, economic-commercial cooperation, and Covid-19 fighting field, Mai said.

China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, on January 18, 1950, Mai added. Over the next seven decades, the two countries have been supporting each other side by side, contributing to the success of their development of communism.

“The Party and the state highly value this and never forget this,” Deputy Prime Ministr Pham Binh Minh once wrote in an article in 2020 for the 70th year anniversary of the Vietnam-China establishment of diplomatic relations.

Mai said the traditional, friendly relations between Vietnam and China was built by generations of leaders and the people. Despite the ups and downs of relations, cooperation and friendship remain to be centerstage, and are further developed on all fields, from politics to economy, culture, security and defense areas.

China’s President Xi Jinping (L) is with Vietnamese Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, November 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

China continues to be Vietnam’s largest commercial partner and is the second largest export market for Vietnam, while Vietnam remains to be China’s largest commercial partner in ASEAN and the sixth largest for China globally.

Bilateral trade turnover between the two countries reached $165.9 billion in 2021, a 24.6% increase compared to 2020. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade turnover reached $117 billion, a 10.8% increase year-on-year. China also has over 140 investment projects in Vietnam, whose total capital reached $1.4 billion, ranking in 4th place among countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Regarding borders, both countries have had legal documents regarding land border, and also bolstered security at the border.

The two countries also reached mutual understanding regarding dispute management, maintaining peace and stability at sea in accordance with international law and promoting negotiation mechanisms regaridng issues at sea.

Mai said both Vietnam and China have constantly performed exchanges to bolster mutual political trust.

“In the midst of complex development in both global and regional situations, as well as the negative impacts the Covid-19 pandemic caused to the global political and economic scene, the official visit has an important meaning when it comes to promoting and deepening the Vietnam-China relations,” Mai said.