Li's visit to further strengthen bilateral ties between Hanoi and Beijing

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Li's visit to further strengthen bilateral ties between Hanoi and Beijing

(Xinhua) 09:57, October 18, 2013

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HANOI, Oct. 18 -- The visit to Vietnam of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the first high-ranking leader in China's new leadership to visit the country, is of great importance not only to the already strong relations between Hanoi and Beijing, but also to the stability of the region, according to a respected political analyst here.

Do Tien Sam, director of the Institute of Chinese Studies of the Vietnam Academy of Social Science, during a recent interview with Xinhua, said that the relations between Vietnam and China witnessed positive changes since early 2013 through a series of meeting and talks between the two countries' high-ranking leaders.

This included the phone conversations between the two countries ' leaders, the visit of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang to China earlier in June, the meeting of the two PMs in Nanning, China during the China-ASEAN Expo as well as the visit of Premier Li to Vietnam.

"All of these activities will contribute to increasing political trust and maintaining social security, thus creating fresh impetus for a broader and deeper cooperation in the economic, political and cultural fields," Sam said.

Talking about the importance of the relations between China and Vietnam, the Vietnamese expert said, "We must be fully aware that the development of one country is the opportunity for the development of the other, and vice versa."

"This must be thoroughly understood by every level and sector in the two countries. By doing this, more chances will be made available for two sides to learn from each other in order to properly handle differences."

"Based on that important awareness, during his visit to Vietnam, Premier Li and his Vietnamese counterpart discussed ways to deepen and concretize the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, not only in economy, but also in culture and people-to-people exchanges, which contribute to strengthening political mutual trust between the two countries, and maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world," Sam said.

Besides fruitful achievements gained during the past years of cooperation, the expert said that there are still differences and obstacles existing between the two countries, which lie mostly in territory issues, with sea dispute being the most complicated one.

"Sea disputes are objective issues derived from the history. One of the highlights of Premier Li's visit to Vietnam this time was to stress the consensus that the two sides are willing to settle the dispute through peaceful means," the expert said.

According to Sam, the leaders and the law-enforcement agencies of both countries should seek specific measures to maintain, peace and stability in the region.

"In handling the dispute, the two sides must take advantage of the hotline established by the two countries to avoid escalating the conflict," he said.

Before visiting Hanoi, Premier Li attended the ASEAN Summit in Brunei Darussalam where he proposed a new cooperative framework, called 2+7.

"In my viewpoint, the 2+7 framework, including two consensus and seven cooperation points, raised by Premier Li will serve as a momentum for the cooperation between China and ASEAN."

"He stressed the upgrading of China-ASEAN free trade area and put forward several proposals, including the establishment of an infrastructure investment bank among China and ASEAN to facilitate infrastructure construction in order to connect China and ASEAN, the proposal in currency management cooperation to prevent risks, as well as cooperation in social-science, humanity and environmental protection."

Sam said that Premier Li's speech was a declaration of new policies of the current leadership of China for the future of China-ASEAN relations.

"I hope that these proposals will be soon put into practice to facilitate China-ASEAN cooperation to benefit not only the development of one side but also the prosperity, peace and stability of the region and the world," Sam said.