Vietnamese Ambassador to China Phạm Sao Mai. — VNA/VNS photo

HÀ NỘI — The upcoming State visit to Việt Nam by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of China Xi Jinping will help to deepen and elevate the Việt Nam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Phạm Sao Mai said in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

According to Ambassador Mai, the December 12-13 visit takes place at a meaningful time as the two countries are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. It will be a continuation of high-level exchange activities between the two Parties and the two countries since the historic visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Nguyễn Phú Trọng from October 30 to November 1, 2022. The visit demonstrates the importance the Chinese Party and State and CPC General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping attach to Việt Nam - China relations.

During the visit, high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and countries will have in-depth discussions on major, comprehensive orientations on deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Việt Nam and China; promote exchanges between senior leaders of the two Parties and countries to further consolidate political trust; actively bolster areas of collaboration, contributing to bringing bilateral relations to a more substantive and effective stage of development.

Regarding political relations, the ambassador said regular high-level exchanges between the two sides had made important contributions to strengthening political trust between the two Parties and countries. This year, President Võ Văn Thưởng attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation organised by China in October; while Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính paid an official visit to China, and attended the World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin in June, the China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the 20th China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS) in Nanning in September.

During these activities, the two countries' leaders continued to put forth major measures to effectively realise the important common perceptions reached by the two highest-level leaders, creating a strong driving force to promote the stable and healthy development of the friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between Việt Nam and China, he said.

Economic and trade cooperation continues to be a bright spot in the two countries' relationship, with two-way trade in the first 10 months of 2023 reaching US$139.2 billion. China remains Việt Nam's largest trading partner and second-largest export market while Việt Nam is China's biggest trading partner in ASEAN and sixth largest partner in the world.

In the 11 months of 2023, China invested $3.06 billion in Việt Nam, accounting for 18,7 per cent of the total newly licensed foreign investment capital in the country, ranking fourth after Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and China’s Hong Kong. However, it led in the number of new investment projects in Việt Nam with 22.1 per cent.

Cooperation in other fields such as tourism, culture, and education has seen progress. China has reopened commercial flights to Việt Nam. In the first 11 months, there were 1.5 million Chinese visitors to Việt Nam, according to the ambassador.

The diplomat said the Việt Nam-China land border maintained peace and stability. The two sides had closely coordinated to implement legal documents on the two sides' land border while strengthening security and safety management in border areas. In maritime issues, the two sides reached a common perception on satisfactorily controlling disagreements, maintaining peace and stability at sea in line with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982), and fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (known in Việt Nam as the East Sea) (DOC) as well as building a substantive, effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).

Both sides had also actively coordinated at multilateral forums to promote peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the world, uphold the central role of ASEAN, and comply with the UN Charter and international law.

He stressed that Việt Nam and China had a long-standing traditional friendship which had been built and nurtured by many generations of leaders and people of the two countries and the visit to Việt Nam by CPC General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping would certainly create more motivation to deepen and elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, bringing practical benefits to the Parties, States, and peoples of the two countries as well as contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world. — VNA/VNS