Chinese Ambassador to Việt Nam Xiong Bo granted an interview to Vietnam News Agency on the occassion of the Lunar New Year 2023. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Chinese Ambassador to Việt Nam Xiong Bo has highlighted the significance of the Lunar New Year (Tết) festival, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, and their cooperation prospects for 2023.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of New Year 2023, he quoted late Vietnamese President Hồ Chí Minh as saying that Việt Nam and China are “both comrades and brothers”.

“We are comrades who share the same sense of purpose and also close brothers,” the ambassador said, stressing the profound meaning of the word “brothers” thanks to cultural similarities, including Tết customs, between the two peoples.

Xiong found Tết, a traditional festival of the Vietnamese and Chinese peoples, and the two countries’ Tết celebrations highly similar. Whenever the Lunar New Year comes, the Tết atmosphere will spread across Hà Nội, from big streets to small alleys, bringing about close and familiar feelings to him through similar customs: family reunion with year-end parties and New Year visits to pagodas.

However, there are also some differences as 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in China but the Year of the Cat in Việt Nam.

The rich histories and special traditional cultures of China and Việt Nam have contributed to the Eastern culture and civilisation, according to the diplomat. Likewise, New Year celebration customs in Japan and the Republic of Korea are also part of the Eastern culture, and it is necessary to treasure and further bring into play the role of the Eastern culture in the world's civilisation.

Mentioning Việt Nam’s economic recovery results in 2022, Ambassador Xiong highly valued the GDP growth of over 8 per cent, the highest in the region and the world, saying the Vietnamese economy is now full of vitality, attractive to foreign investors, and boasts vibrant external economic activities with trade value topping US$700 billion.

He held that the abovementioned achievements were attributable to the clear-sighted leadership by the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV), headed by General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, and the Government along with efforts by the Vietnamese people.

The economy of Việt Nam had been comprehensively integrating into the world and now had great openness, he went on.

Regarding the COVID-19 combat, the diplomat said the Party and Government of Việt Nam had effectively combined the pandemic fight with socio-economic development and obtained great successes. In the most trying times of the pandemic, the country made all-out efforts in promoting vaccination and seeking vaccine supply sources, including from China.

In its capacity, China provided 52 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, including 7 million doses in non-refundable aid, for Việt Nam, helping set up a line of defence against the pandemic amid the most trying times in Việt Nam.

In terms of trade ties, the ambassador said despite impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade in the first 11 months of last year exceeded $210 billion, and the whole year’s figure was expected to surpass the $230 billion recorded in 2021, which was a highly encouraging result.

A highlight of relations between the two Parties and countries last year is the official visit to China by CPV General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng in late October.

The visit had great influence, Xiong affirmed, adding that leaders of the two countries once again reached strategic common perceptions and agreed that Việt Nam and China would support each other along their path to socialism, stay steadfast in the strategic leadership by the two Parties’ top leaders, and advocate cooperation in all fields.

During the trip, the two sides also adopted a joint statement of extreme political significance that touched upon many areas and created favourable conditions for the two countries to continue cooperation in different spheres, including economy and trade.

China and Việt Nam hold good conditions for strengthening partnerships in investment, economy, and trade since they share a borderline and boast highly complementary advantages, according to the ambassador. China supports businesses with good strength, reputation, and high technology coming to Việt Nam to invest in potential areas such as developing digital economy, green economy, and new energy.

China is ready to enhance economic, trade, and policy cooperation with Việt Nam, the diplomat said, noting his country may fully resume air routes connecting with Việt Nam this year so as to facilitate bilateral mobility and economic activities.

Speaking highly of Việt Nam’s efforts to combat corruption and negative phenomena, Xiong underlined the similar policies and determination of the Communist Party of China and the CPV in this regard.

He underlined that General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng and the CPV Central Committee had attached great importance to the corruption combat. Việt Nam had taken drastic actions with a strong resolve and dealt with many law-violating cadres. The CPV had also issued many documents and unceasingly perfected regulations to augment the corruption fight.

The ambassador applauded Việt Nam’s establishment of anti-corruption steering committees at the central and provincial levels. He noted China was ready to cooperate with Việt Nam in corruption prevention and control in line with the common perceptions between their top leaders.

In the interview, he offered greetings to the Vietnamese people and expressed his hope that in the New Year, Việt Nam would obtain brilliant achievements in socio-economic development under the leadership of General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng and the CPV Central Committee. — VNS