A further step towards stronger Vietnam – China partnership
VOV.VN - Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President To Lam and his spouse will pay an official state visit to China from August 18-20 at the invitation of Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping and his spouse, representing a further step to deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.
An overseas trip of paramount importance
This is To Lam’s first overseas trip after he was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee in early August 2024. The visit demonstrates Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of further deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and building a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.
Bilateral relations have been developing comprehensively and substantially since the two countries normalized diplomatic ties more than 30 years ago, especially since they upgraded their ties to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2008.
The two sides have maintained visit exchanges at all levels and through various channels, including a China visit in October 2022 by the then Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and the Vietnam visit in December 2023 by Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping.
They have also opened up new areas of cooperation and established an annual high-level exchange mechanism between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Chinese National People’s Congress.
Recently, the Chinese Party and State showed their special sentiments and respects towards Vietnam over the passing of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Following the news of the Vietnamese leader’s passing, the Communist Party of China Central Committee sent its message of condolence. Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping came to the Vietnamese Embassy in Beijing to pay respect to the deceased leader, while Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Wang Huning was sent to the funeral in Hanoi as the Special Representative.
Ample room for burgeoning trade
Bilateral economic-trade-investment cooperation has yielded fruitful results over the years. Notably, the first six months of 2024 saw two-way trade hit US$94.5 billion, representing a year-on-year rise of 24.1%. The number of Chinese invested projects in the six-month span remained at the top with 447 new ones worth nearly US$1.3 billion. Vietnam welcomed 2.1 million Chinese tourist arrivals in the past seven months, higher than that of the whole 2023.
Progress has been made in agricultural cooperation, as the two sides have basically completed official export procedures for a number of Vietnamese agricultural products such as frozen durian, fresh coconut, fresh chili, and passion fruit to enter the Chinese market. In addition, people-to-people exchanges have been enhanced, while more than 23,000 Vietnamese students are studying in China, doubling the number recorded in 2019 when COVID-19 broke out.
Economic experts say there is much room for Vietnam – China trade to grow further on the back of many bilateral cooperation agreements and multilateral trade agreements such as the ASEAN – China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP). Currently, China is promoting its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) of which Vietnam has already been a member. The two sides are also working out many new cooperation areas in the fields of infrastructure and trade facilitation.
The overall land border situation remains stable, while the situation in the East Sea is basically well controlled. Exchange and negotiation mechanisms between the two sides on maritime issues are regularly maintained. The two sides are organizing activities to celebrate 25 years of the signing of the Vietnam – China Land Border Treaty and 15 years of the signing of three legal documents on the Vietnam-China land border.
During his reception for Wang Huning in Hanoi on July 25, To Lam reiterated Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of attaching importance to and giving top priority to strengthening relations with China. The two sides would continue to realise high-level common perceptions and signed agreements to further consolidate and advance their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership towards building the Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.
Wang for his part also affirmed that China considers Vietnam a priority and strategic choice in its neighbourhood diplomacy policy.
Chinese expectations
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 15 afternoon issued an announcement about the State visit of General Secretary and President To Lam, saying China expects the visit to deepen the building of the community with a shared future between the two countries.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying emphasized that To Lam’s choice of China as the first country to visit after taking office fully reflects the high regard for developing relations between the two Parties and the two countries.
China expects that through this visit, the two countries will continue to promote traditional friendship, deepen the building of the China-Vietnam community of a shared future, and walk well together on the path of socialist modernization with their own characteristics, jointly promote the development of the world socialist cause, and actively contribute to peace, stability and development of the region and the world, said Hua.
Vietnam and China will celebrate 75 years of their diplomacy in 2025 – an important milestone in bilateral relations. The two sides vow to work hard to take their relations to new heights, making them more practical and effective.
