China Looks Forward to Carrying Forward Traditional Friendship Through Top Vietnamese Leader’s Visit

China looks forward to carrying forward traditional friendship, deepening the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future, said China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian on Thursday.

In her remarks, Lin Jian said, at the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam will pay a State visit to China from August 18-20.

General Secretary and President Xi Jinping will have talks with General Secretary and President To Lam. Premier Li Qiang, Chairman Zhao Leji of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Chairman Wang Huning of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will meet with the top Vietnamese leader respectively.

China and Viet Nam are working intensively to implement the outcomes achieved during General Secretary and President Xi Jinping's historic visit to Viet Nam at the end of last year, said the diplomat.

Efforts to build the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance have had a good start. China is the first country that General Secretary To Lam will visit after assuming office. This says a lot about the great importance that he attaches to the relations between the two parties and countries, she noted.

"Through this visit, China looks forward to carrying forward traditional friendship, deepening the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future, and working with Viet Nam to achieve success in our respective socialist paths towards modernization with distinctive characteristics, jointly advance the global socialist cause, and contribute to regional and global peace, stability and development", Lin Jian emphasized.

Viet Nam and China established diplomatic ties in 1950. Over the past 74 years, friendship and cooperation have been the mainstream of the relations between Viet Nam and China.

China was the first country with which Viet Nam set up the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2008, the highest collaboration framework between Viet Nam and a foreign country.

Notably, China remains Viet Nam's largest trade partner and second largest export market. Meanwhile, Viet Nam is China's largest trade partner in ASEAN and the fifth biggest in the world.

According the General Department of Viet Nam Customs, two-way trade in 2023 reached US$171.9 billion, down 2.6 percent from the previous year. In the first five months of this year, the value stood at US$77.5 billion, up 25.4 percent year-on-year, with Viet Nam running a trade deficit of US$32.3 billion, up 56.3 percent.

Over the past time, the two countries have signed many bilateral and multilateral agreements such as the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Source: VGP