China, Vietnam to expand cooperation

President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. (FENG YONGBIN/China Daily)

President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that Beijing and Hanoi will embrace new opportunities in expanding their cooperation in areas such as trade and the economy, as well as interconnectivity and the digital economy, as China continues deepening reform across the board and advancing Chinese modernization.

He made the remarks when meeting in Beijing with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who is in China for the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, held in Northeast China's coastal city of Dalian.

Noting that China always sees Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, Xi said China is ready to work with Vietnam to strengthen strategic guidance of bilateral ties, firmly support each other, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, to jointly march toward modernization.

While China will encourage more of its enterprises to expand their investment in Vietnam, it is hoped that Vietnam will provide a fair, just, and nondiscriminatory business environment for them, he said.

China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and its second-largest export market, while Vietnam is China's largest trading partner within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Bilateral trade has expanded from about $2.4 billion in 2000 to exceed $229.7 billion last year, official statistics showed.

Chinh's visit came after the two nations announced the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, during Xi's visit to Vietnam in December.

Xi said that for more than half a year since then, high-level exchanges between the two countries' political parties and governments have been frequent, and cooperation in various fields has witnessed progress, which has brought concrete benefits to their peoples.

"We are quite pleased with it," he told the Vietnamese prime minister, vowing to join hands with Vietnam to make greater contributions to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity.

To consolidate public support for China-Vietnam friendship, Xi called on the two countries to strengthen communication between border provinces, implement projects in agriculture, education, and healthcare aimed at improving people's well-being, and make good use of platforms promoting people-to-people and youth exchanges.

He also stressed the need for the two neighboring countries to appropriately handle their maritime issues, speed up joint exploration at sea and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability.

The Vietnamese prime minister, who spoke highly of China's significant role as an important engine and bedrock for global economic growth, said his country supports China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, to which Vietnam is a party, and opposes the politicization of trade and tech issues.

He added that Vietnam supports China's position on the Taiwan question and firmly adheres to the one-China principle.

Noting that it is the top priority for his country to deepen strategic mutual trust and practical cooperation with China, Chinh said that Vietnam will make the construction of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance its strategic choice and this will not be affected by external instigation and interference.

Xu Liping, a senior researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that strengthening cooperation between China and Vietnam, both socialist countries advancing modernization, is a win-win choice for them.

Xu said cooperation at the subnational level will be one of the new areas of growth for China and Vietnam as the two countries, connected by land and sea, have witnessed rapid development in border trade in recent years and are working on promoting interconnectivity through Belt and Road cooperation.

Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also met with Chinh on Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping meets with the Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, June 26, 2024. (Photo/Xinhua)