Chinese Premier Li Qiang arriving at Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội on October 12. VNA/VNS photo

HÀ NỘI – In the context of a rapidly changing world with increasing risks and challenges, China and Việt Nam, as companions on the path of building socialism, need to unite and cooperate even more closely to together promote peace and development, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

In his speech delivered as soon as arriving at the Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội on October 12 for a three-day official visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, Li said that China and Việt Nam boasted a long-lasting traditional friendship. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, the relationship had developed strongly, the good friendship and neighbourliness further reinforced, and the mutually beneficial cooperation deepened, he said.

He recalled General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping's historic visit to Việt Nam late last year, saying it brought China-Việt Nam relations to a new era of building the Việt Nam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance. The people of the two countries were becoming more connected and closer, standing side by side on the path of modernisation in each country.

Since the beginning of this year, China and Việt Nam had maintained close high-level exchanges and achieved positive cooperation results across various fields, Li said.

The building of the Việt Nam-China community with a shared future had had a good start. General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President Xi had a discussion with his Vietnamese counterpart Tô Lâm during the latter's visit to China in August, outlining strategies to comprehensively advance the building of the China-Việt Nam community with a shared future in the new context as well as clearer orientations for the development of the bilateral relations.

"China always regards Việt Nam as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy policy," he reiterated, adding during this visit, he hopes for in-depth discussions with Vietnamese leaders regarding the realisation of the important common perceptions reached by the high-ranking leaders of both parties and countries.

China and Việt Nam would work together to enhance their traditional friendship, strengthen strategic exchanges, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, reinforce the foundation of friendship between their people, and promote the building of the China-Việt Nam community with a shared future in a practical way, bringing more benefits to the people of both countries and contributing to peace, stability, and prosperous development in the region and the world, the Chinese Premier noted. VNA/VNS