The upcoming visit of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and President Xi Jinping to Vietnam will further deepen the relations between the two countries, guiding the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new height, said Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and President Xi Jinping

Xi will pay a State visit to Vietnam and attend the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in central Da Nang city from November 10-13 at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang. It will be his first foreign visit and multilateral summit attendance after the CPC’s 19th National Congress, Khoi told the Vietnam News Agency during an interview in Beijing, China.

The visit will show that the CPC and State and the CPC General Secretary and President himself attach importance to the Vietnam-China relations and their support for Vietnam as the host of this year’s APEC meetings, the ambassador noted.

It will deepen the bilateral relations; promote the tradition of high-level visit exchange between Party and Government leaders; and pave the way for the effective implementation of the two countries’ agreements and common perceptions for the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to be taken to the next level. It is also conducive to a stable and health relationship between the two sides, contributing to the cooperation within the Asia-Pacific, he stated.

During his visit, Xi will speak at the APEC CEO Summit, APEC-ASEAN Informal Dialogue, and APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting to share China’s views on globalization, multilateral trade regimes, economic connectivity, and the building of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP).

About 300 Chinese business leaders, including those from some of the world’s leading enterprises and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will participate in the APEC CEO Summit alongside thousands of entrepreneurs from the member economies. The number demonstrates the scale of APEC’s second largest economy as well as the Chinese business community’s interest in business opportunities and investment prospects in Vietnam as well as in Asia-Pacific, Khoi stressed.

As the result of efforts made by the two Parties and States, the two neighbouring countries’ friendship and comprehensive cooperation have been further strengthened with significant progress seen in all areas. A highlight of the political ties between Vietnam and China is regular high-level exchange in a variety of forms, significant to the development of the bilateral relations.

The bilateral cooperation in trade and economics has harvested many positive results. Since 2016, Vietnam has become China's largest trading partner in ASEAN and eighth worldwide. According to China’s statistics, the two-way trade reached 82.4 billion USD in the first nine months of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 20.6 percent.

China ranked eighth among 126 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. By September 2017, Chinese investors have operated 1,747 FDI projects, worth over 11.9 billion USD, in Vietnam.

People-to-people exchange and cooperation in tourism have also made good progress. There are more than 120 weekly flights between the two nations. In 2016, around 2.7 million Chinese people visited Vietnam, making Vietnam the second favourite destination of Chinese travellers in ASEAN, after Thailand, while China welcomed 2.2 million Vietnamese, the highest number in Southeast Asia. 

According to Khoi, the most important factors for the stable and long-term development of the Vietnam-China relations will be the effective implementation of their leaders’ agreements and common perceptions, good management of the differences, and maintenance of peace and stability in the East Sea. 

The two sides should also take an active role in fostering effective negotiation mechanism and strengthening mutual trust to provide a basis for addressing more complex issues via peaceful means, international law and regional agreements, the diplomat added.

He hoped that the developments in the ties over the past several years coupled with the success of Xi’s visit to Vietnam will push the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to grow stronger in the future for the benefit of their peoples and peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region.-VNA