New milestone for friendly neighborly relations between Vietnam and China

The State visit to China by General Secretary and President To Lam and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation from August 18-20, was a great success, becoming a new milestone, opening a new development stage for the friendly neighborly relationship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

This is a particularly important foreign activity between Vietnam and China in 2024, having a huge impact on the development trend of relations between the two Parties and two countries in the long term to come.

Continuing and promoting good development trends

It can be said that this is the first foreign visit of General Secretary and President To Lam after being elected to the position of General Secretary of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The Chinese Party and State arranged a solemn and thoughtful reception, arranged the highest level of reception, logistics, and security according to the protocol of a State visit, demonstrating the importance of the relationship with the Party, State, and people of Vietnam and personally with General Secretary and President To Lam.

During the visit, General Secretary and President To Lam had 18 activities with rich and meaningful programs.

At the talks right after the welcoming ceremony, General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed his wish to join General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and senior Chinese leaders in inheriting and promoting the long-standing tradition of friendship between the two Parties and two countries, orienting the Vietnam-China relationship to enter a new stage of increasingly stable, sustainable and long-term development.

General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping strongly affirmed that China persists in its policy of friendship with Vietnam, always considering Vietnam a priority direction and strategic choice in its neighborly foreign policy.

A notable highlight of the visit was that General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-ranking delegation of our Party and State visited Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, a vibrant revolutionary land of China and the region.

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's arrival in Guangzhou as an International Advisor to the Communist International. Here, President Ho Chi Minh organized political training classes and established the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association, creating the premise for the later establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Also during the period from 1924 to 1927, President Ho Chi Minh and Chinese revolutionaries established a close friendship that was later described by President Ho Chi Minh and Chinese leaders as "The close friendship between Vietnam and China, both comrades and brothers."

According to Party Central Committee Secretary and Head of the Party Central Committee's External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, this activity in Guangdong is of great significance, as it is an opportunity for both sides to review the traditional friendship, solidarity, and mutual assistance between the two Parties, two countries, and two peoples, helping to create a more solid social foundation for the relationship between the two sides.

In addition, looking forward to 2025 when the two countries celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (January 18, 1950 - January 18, 2025), during this visit, the senior leaders of the two Parties and the two countries decided to make 2025 the "Year of Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange." This is an opportunity for both sides to strengthen propaganda and education about the traditional friendship between Vietnam and China, further consolidating the social foundation.

Mr. Vu Huong Dong - Professor, Director of the Institute of Vietnamese Studies, Zhengzhou University (China) said that Vietnam and China - two countries with a long-standing tradition of friendship that has always been nurtured and developed, have achieved many very important, profound and widespread achievements in all different fields.

This visit to China by General Secretary and President To Lam is a strategic choice based on the stable development of bilateral relations, demonstrating Vietnam's consistent stance and choice of "bamboo diplomacy" policy, which is beneficial to the noble cause of modernization that the Communist Party of Vietnam is constantly promoting, in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, related to the happiness of the people of China and Vietnam, and also beneficial to maintaining and protecting peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region and the world.

Professor Vu Huong Dong emphasized that the visit is a symbolic event, demonstrating the desire to continue the legacy of the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong - who laid the foundation for the strategic and especially important relationship between Vietnam and China...

Promote deeper substantive cooperation

After more than 30 years of normalization, especially more than 15 years since the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership framework in 2008, Vietnam-China relations have made rapid and increasingly profound and comprehensive progress in all fields.

In particular, after the historic official visit to China by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in October 2022 and the third State visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping in December 2023, the two sides agreed to continue to deepen and further enhance the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, build a Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future of strategic significance, and open a new chapter for bilateral relations.

Since the beginning of 2024, the relationship between the two countries has maintained a positive development momentum, the atmosphere of cooperation has spread strongly to all levels, sectors and people. Both sides assessed that the bilateral relationship is at its deepest, most comprehensive and substantial level ever, and economic-trade-investment cooperation continues to grow.

On the basis of the relationship that has been diligently cultivated by the leaders of the two countries, including the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and the Vietnamese leaders, continuing and further promoting the good and favorable development trend of the Vietnam-China relationship achieved after the historic mutual visits of the top leaders of the two Parties and the two countries in recent times, during the State visit of General Secretary and President To Lam, the two sides issued a Joint Statement on further strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, deepening the building of the Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future.

The senior leaders of the two Parties and countries devoted much attention and time to discussing cooperation orientations in various fields, including agreeing to strengthen cooperation in strategic areas such as diplomacy, defense, and public security; expanding cooperation connecting the "Belt and Road" initiative with the "Two Corridors, One Belt" framework; agreeing to accelerate the construction of "hard connections" in infrastructure, border gates, and railways across the border between the two countries; and strengthening "soft connections" in smart customs.

China is willing to provide non-refundable aid to Vietnam to plan and conduct feasibility studies for railway routes connecting Vietnam with China in the North. Actively research and pilot smart border gates, pilot the construction of cross-border economic cooperation zones, as well as build safe and stable production and supply chains. Support capable Chinese enterprises to participate in economic development in Vietnam.

Ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries have signed documents to implement practical cooperation in many fields, including theoretical cooperation, training between the two Parties, transportation, banking, education, health, trade, protocols on exporting Vietnamese agricultural products (fresh coconut, frozen durian, crocodile), and press and propaganda. The signed documents vividly reflect the determination of both sides to promote deeper substantive cooperation.

As one of the official delegation members accompanying General Secretary and President To Lam on his state visit to China this time, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that this visit follows the success of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to China in 2022 and the visits between senior leaders of the Party and State of the two sides, opening up a great opportunity to promote agricultural trade between Vietnam and China. Identifying China as one of the key markets for Vietnam's agricultural exports...

Appreciating the development of relations between the two countries, including localities, Secretary of Dien Bien Provincial Party Committee Tran Quoc Cuong emphasized the opportunity to promote development, upgrade border gates, transport infrastructure systems for trade of goods and expand relations in the fields of agriculture and forestry; deal with non-traditional security issues such as epidemics; enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and localities, especially educating young generations about the tradition of friendship between Vietnam and China.

The State visit to China by the General Secretary, President and his wife, along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, is an important activity to implement Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification, including the policy of valuing and giving top priority to relations with China.

The high-level agreements and specific results achieved during the visit will continue to contribute to consolidating the favorable foreign situation, creating a peaceful and stable environment, bringing more favorable conditions to promote socio-economic development, enhancing the country's position and prestige, and successfully implementing the goals set by the 13th National Party Congress.