Vietnam and China issued a Joint Communiqué on the occasion of the official visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong from January 12-15 at the invitation of Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping. 

The Joint Communiqué said that during the visit, the Vietnamese Party chief held talks with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, and had meetings with China’s Premier of the State Council Li Keqiang; Chairman of the National People’s Congress of China (NPCC) Standing Committee Zhang Dejiang; Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Yu Zhengsheng; and Secretary of the Chinese Party Central Committee’s Commission for Discipline Inspection, Wang Qishan. 

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC Yu Zhengsheng attended a friendship meeting celebrating the 67th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties and the upcoming Lunar New Year.  

Besides Beijing, the Vietnamese party chief made a tour of Zhejiang province.

The Joint Communiqué said the two sides agreed that the visit was a success, contributing greatly to enhancing mutual trust, strengthening the traditional friendship, and deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations, while helping promote peace, stability and development in the region and the world. 

The two sides said Vietnam and China are neighbours with long-lasting traditional friendship and both are socialist countries led by the communist parties. The two countries share similarities in political regime and development policy and correlative future. Sustainable development of each country and the bilateral friendship and cooperation bear great importance to both nations. In the context of new historical conditions, when the international and regional situation is undergoing rapid and complicated changes, the persistence in the leadership of the communist party and the socialist institution is a correct choice that suits the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries and peoples.

The two sides affirmed that Vietnam and China will stringently pursue the motto “friendly neighbours, comprehensive cooperation, long-term stability and looking towards the future” and uphold the spirit of “good neighbours, good friends, good comrades and good partners”. 

The two countries will always develop the bilateral relations on the basis of strategic and long-term vision, and follow the major orientation of the Vietnam-China relationship, the statement said. 

It added that the two countries will maintain mutual respect, promote strategic exchange, enhance political trust, properly solve differences, deepen win-win cooperation, continually foster the stable, healthy development of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, in order to bring greater benefits for both countries and peoples while contributing more to promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and the world.

The two sides agreed to maintain and strengthen Vietnam-China high-level exchanges through various forms including bilateral visits, special envoys, hotlines, annual meetings and meetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums, thus timely exchanging viewpoints on important issues in the relationship between the two Parties and countries as well as on regional and international situations, and defining orientations and directing the Vietnam-China ties’ growth in the new period.

They concurred that both Vietnam and China have entered an important period of socio-economic development, thus it is necessary to optimise the overall coordinating role of exchange and cooperation mechanisms, such as high-level meetings between the two Parties and the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, with focus on improving effectiveness of partnership in five major areas.

Firstly, the two sides should effectively implement cooperation plan between the two Parties in the 2016-2020 period, while increasing collaboration between central agencies of the two parties and among Party organisations in localities, especially in provinces and areas along the border. 

The two sides should actively promote exchanges and friendship cooperation between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the National People’s Congress of China, and between the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Secondly, the two countries should strengthen exchanges and cooperation in diplomacy, defence, security and law enforcement.

Thirdly, the two sides should further promote the result-oriented partnership in economy and trade, while making good strategic planning for bilateral cooperation. Affiliation in agriculture, environment, science-technology, and transportation should also be strengthened.

Fourthly, both countries should encourage exchanges and links between the two peoples, especially the youth using flexible and diverse forms, in order to enhance mutual understanding and friendship. It is also necessary to expand partnership in culture, education, tourism and media.

Fifthly, the two sides should optimise the role of the Vietnam-China Joint Committee on Land Border and the Committee on Vietnam-China Land Border Gate Management, while well implementing legal documents on land border between the two countries.

The two sides have discussed the sea-related issues in a straightforward and sincere manner. They underlined the need to observe the common perceptions reached by leaders of the two Parties and countries, and the “agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea issues between Vietnam and China”. 

The two sides should make the best use of the governmental-level negotiating mechanism on border and territory and pursue negotiations and friendly consultations to seek fundamental and long lasting solutions acceptable to both sides.

The two sides agreed to well implement follow-up work after finishing the joint field survey in the area off the mouth of the Gulf of Tonkin while accelerating negotiations on demarcating the area beyond the mouth of the Tonkin Gulf and promoting cooperation for development in the waters. They agreed to continue to promote the efforts of the working group on cooperation for development at sea while effectively stepping up joint projects in less sensitive fields as agreed previously.

Both sides agreed to continue to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), work towards the early formation of a Code of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (COC) on the basis of consensus consultation, effectively controlling disputes at sea and avoiding actions that would further complicate or expanding disputes, while maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea. 

The Vietnamese side affirmed to consistently pursue the one-China policy, support the peaceful development of Cross-Strait relations and China’s great cause of unification, and resolutely oppose actions for an “independent Taiwan” in any form. Vietnam does not develop any official ties with Taiwan. The Chinese side welcomes Vietnam’s stance.

Both sides also agreed to boost coordination and cooperation at multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the ASEAN-China, Mekong – Lan Cang, thus working together in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

The Joint Communiqué noted that the two sides signed a number of cooperation documents during the visit.

VNA