President Xi's visit to boost momentum in Vietnam-China relations: ambassador

According to Mai, the Dec. 12-13 visit by Xi takes place at a meaningful time as the two countries are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. It will be a continuation of high-level exchange activities between the two Parties and the two countries since the historic visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2022. The visit demonstrates the importance the Chinese Party and State and CPC General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping attach to Vietnam - China relations.

"Inheriting the tradition of friendship and usual exchanges between the two sides, the Party, State and people of Vietnam attach great importance to the visit and will give China's Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping a special welcome that deeply shows the countries' friendship, comradeship and brotherhood," Mai said.

During the visit, high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and countries will have in-depth discussions on major, comprehensive orientations on deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China; promote exchanges between senior leaders of the two Parties and countries to further consolidate political trust; actively bolster areas of collaboration, contributing to bringing bilateral relations to a more substantive and effective stage of development.

Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai. Photo by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Regarding political relations, the ambassador said regular high-level exchanges between the two sides have made important contributions to strengthening political trust between the two Parties and countries. This year, President Vo Van Thuong attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation organized by China in October; while Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh paid an official visit to China, and attended the World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin in June, the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the 20th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) in Nanning in September.

During these activities, the two countries' leaders continued to put forth major measures to effectively realize the important common perceptions reached by the two highest-level leaders, creating a strong driving force to promote the stable and healthy development of the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between Vietnam and China, Mai said.

Economic and trade cooperation continues to be a bright spot in the two countries' relationship, with two-way trade in the first 10 months of 2023 reaching US$139.2 billion. China remains Vietnam's largest trading partner and second-largest export market while Vietnam is China's biggest trading partner in ASEAN and eighth largest partner in the world.

In the 11 months of 2023, China invested $3.06 billion in Vietnam, accounting for 18.7% of the total newly licensed foreign investment capital in the country, ranking fourth after Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and China’s Hong Kong. However, it led in the number of new investment projects in Vietnam with 22.1%.

Cooperation in other fields such as tourism, culture, and education has seen progress. China has reopened commercial flights to Vietnam. In the first 11 months, there were 1.5 million Chinese visitors to Vietnam, Mai added.

Vietnam's Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (L) and China's Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping in Beijing on October 31, 2023. Photo by VNA

The diplomat said the Vietnam-China land border maintains peace and stability. The two sides have closely coordinated to implement legal documents on the two sides' land border while strengthening security and safety management in border areas. In maritime issues, the two sides reached a common perception on satisfactorily controlling disagreements, maintaining peace and stability at sea in line with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982), and fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) as well as building a substantive, effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Both sides have also actively coordinated at multilateral forums to promote peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the world, uphold the central role of ASEAN, and comply with the UN Charter and international law.

He stressed that Vietnam and China have a long-standing traditional friendship which has been built and nurtured by many generations of leaders and people of the two countries and the visit to Vietnam by CPC General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping will certainly create more motivation to deepen and elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, bringing practical benefits to the Parties, States, and people of the two countries as well as contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.