Việt Nam, China strive for people’s happiness, humankind’s progress: foreign ministry’s spokesperson

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and his spouse (left) and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyễn Phú Trọng and his spouse prior to Chinese leader’s departure from Việt Nam, concluding the successful State visit on December 12-13. — VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam and China have agreed to build a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, striving for their peoples’ happiness and for the peace and progress of humankind, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng said at the ministry’s regular press conference in Hà Nội on Thursday.

According to the spokeswoman, after 15 years since the establishment of the two countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the relations between Việt Nam and China as well as between their parties have been continuously expanded and deepened. Bilateral cooperation across fields has made significant and comprehensive progress.

The nations maintain contacts, dialogues, and exchanges at various levels, particularly high-level visits, she said.

During a state visit to Việt Nam on December 12 and 13 by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and his spouse, the two sides issued a joint statement on continuing deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries and building a Việt Nam-China community with a shared future of strategic importance.

Both sides agreed to build a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, striving for their peoples’ happiness and for the peace and progress of humankind, Hằng said.

She went on adding that Việt Nam and China also concurred that the development of their relations needs to comply with the United Nations Charter, international law, and basic norms of international relations; to persist with mutual respect, equality, mutual benefits, win-win cooperation, respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; and to persist with the settlement of differences through peaceful measures.

This is a common future that the sides share and aspire to, in line with the interests of both countries, contributing to the trends of peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world, Hằng affirmed.

Regarding the content of the shared-future community cooperation between Việt Nam and China, the spokeswoman stated that cooperation orientations between the two Parties and two countries in the time to come concerning bilateral, regional, and global aspects have been specifically outlined in the joint statement.

Among the 36 cooperation documents signed between the sides during the visit, two are related to railway cooperation. These are the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Transport of Việt Nam and the National Development and Reform Commission of China on strengthening Việt Nam-China railway cooperation, and the MoU between the Vietnamese ministry and the International Development Cooperation Agency of China on strengthening aid cooperation for railway development across the Việt Nam-China border.

Regarding the prospects for cooperation in this area, the spokesperson said the two sides have agreed to study and promote the construction of a standard gauge railway for the Lào Cai-Hà Nội-Hải Phòng route, and study similar standard-gauge railways for the Đồng Đăng-Hà Nội and Móng Cái-Hạ Long-Hải Phòng standard-gauge route at an appropriate time. The implementation of these projects will contribute to enhancing connectivity cooperation within the “Two Corridors, One Belt” framework and the “Belt and Road” initiative. — VNS