Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang attends the banquet celebrating 74th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Việt Nam and China on Thursday night. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — The Chinese Embassy in Việt Nam hosted a banquet on Thursday in the presence of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang to celebrate the 74th founding anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations (January 18, 1950 - 2024).

In his remarks, Quang, who is also Chairman of the Việt Nam-China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, affirmed that the Party, State, and people of Việt Nam view the development of relations with China as a strategic choice and leading priority in the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and multilateralisation and diversification of external relations.

Việt Nam holds that the stable and sustainable development of the bilateral ties matches practical benefits of the two countries' peoples and also benefits cooperation and prosperous development in the region and the world, he said.

The Deputy PM emphasised that after the historic visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng in October 2022, the two countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership made great strides and obtained significant achievements in 2023.

During the state visit to Việt Nam by Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping in December 2023, the two Parties and the two countries agreed to continue deepening and elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and to build a Việt Nam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance. This was an important milestone during the development of the bilateral relations, raising the ties between the two Parties and the two countries to a new stage, Quang added.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Việt Nam Xiong Bo noted that China is ready to join hands with Việt Nam to properly implement the important common perceptions reached between the Parties and countries’ top leaders, and unceasingly develop the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and the Việt Nam-China community with a shared future, thereby generating tangible benefits for the people of both nations.

The two sides agreed to keep close coordination to concretise the achievements and new dimensions of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, on which Party General Secretary of Việt Nam Nguyễn Phú Trọng and Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping agreed, to promote the relations between the two Parties and the two countries with higher political trust, more practical defence - security cooperation, more solid social foundation, closer multilateral coordination, and better controlled and resolved differences, the diplomat said. — VNS