Interview: Senior Vietnamese official says Xi's visit to further promote Vietnam-China friendship

HANOI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming state visit by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, to Vietnam is expected to further promote the friendship between the two peoples, said a senior Vietnamese official.

Nguyen Hoang Anh, a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, said in a recent interview that Vietnam and China are neighboring countries linked by mountains and rivers and share a long-lasting friendship between the two peoples.

Anh recalled that General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong held talks with Xi during his trip to China last year, where the two leaders jointly charted the course for the development of bilateral ties and lifted their relationship to a higher level.

Noting that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Anh said Xi's visit is of landmark significance.

The two sides will discuss cooperation in various fields to further promote friendly exchanges and solidify progress in bilateral cooperation, said Anh, who is also chairman of the Commission for State Capital Management at Enterprises.

"High-level contact is a good tradition between Vietnam and China, and is promoting the continuous development of bilateral ties," he added.

Anh, president of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, said, "Over the 70-plus years of diplomatic ties, traditional friendship has witnessed continuous development."

The association was established in 1950 when the two countries established diplomatic relations and is one of the first foreign friendship organizations set up in Vietnam.

Friendly exchanges between the peoples are significant as they add momentum to consolidating the popular and social foundation for the growth of bilateral ties, Anh said.

Noting that people-to-people exchanges have contributed to cementing mutual trust and promoting mutual understanding between the two countries, Anh said friendly exchanges of the kind "have strongly boosted communication and cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, culture, tourism and education in recent years."

"The two countries have become one of the most popular tourist destinations for each other," he added.

Looking ahead, Anh said the two sides should further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two parties and two countries, tell the story of the Vietnam-China friendship well, and speed up the resumption of the Vietnam-China People's Forum.

Both sides should place more emphasis on promoting exchanges and cooperation in the fields of arts, education, science and technology, tourism, health, and sports at the local level, especially between the border regions, and explore exchange activities in various forms in the pursuit of more practical people-to-people diplomacy with efficiency, he added.

Anh said the traditional Vietnam-China friendship was forged by the older generations of the leaders of the two countries and is a valuable asset shared by the two peoples.

The people of both sides, especially the youth, should carry forward the friendly ties and further deepen the understanding of the Vietnam-China traditional friendship, so as to ensure a lasting friendship from generation to generation, he said.