Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính receives Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Lan Tianli. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính’s working sessions in China are expected to contribute to promoting the friendly neighbourliness and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries as well as the “Việt Nam-China Community with a shared future that carries strategic significance”, making bilateral ties deeper, more comprehensive, and sustainable.

The sessions are made in parallel with his attendance at the 8th Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Summit, the 10th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) Summit, and the 11th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Việt Nam (CLMV) Cooperation Summit in China from November 5-8.

Thriving Việt Nam-China ties

Việt Nam and China set up their diplomatic relations on January 18, 1950. Over the past 74 years, the main stream in Việt Nam-China relations is friendship and cooperation.

In 2008, the two countries elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, the highest cooperation framework with most extensive and deepest content in Việt Nam’s relations with other countries. China was the first country to share such partnership with Việt Nam.

Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, the Việt Nam-China relations have maintained stable development momentum and achieved positive results. After the historic visits by Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng (October 2022) and Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping (December 2023), the two Parties and countries have defined new positioning for bilateral relations, continuing to deepen and elevate the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

They have worked to build the Việt Nam-China Community of shared future that carries strategic significance, providing strong impetus for both sides to continuously consolidate and strengthen their friendly relations and comprehensive cooperation. The two countries have outlined “six major” directions, namely higher political trust, more practical and deeper defence - security cooperation, more substantive and deeper cooperation, more solid social foundation, closer multilateral coordination, and better control and settlement of differences.

Particularly, the China visit by Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm in August 2024 marked a new milestone in bilateral relations. During the visit, the two countries issued a joint statement on further strengthening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and building a Việt Nam-China community with a shared future, while ministries, sectors, and localities of the two sides signed many cooperation agreements in various fields.

Economic, trade, and investment cooperation between Việt Nam and China has continuously deepened and become more substantial. Bilateral trade turnover reached US$171.9 billion in 2023, and $148.6 billion in the first nine months of 2024. China remains Việt Nam's largest trade partner and the second-largest export market, while Việt Nam is China's largest trading partner in ASEAN and the fifth-largest globally.

Regarding investment, as of October 2024, China's total registered FDI in Việt Nam hit $29.9 billion, with 4,965 projects underway, making China the sixth largest among the 148 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam.

The two countries have actively coordinated at multilateral forums to promote peace, stability, and cooperation in the region and the world as well as ASEAN's central role, the adherence to the United Nations Charter, and the implementation of international law.

Việt Nam-China locality-to-locality cooperation promoted

Cooperation among localities, especially border provinces and areas of the two countries, has been continuously strengthened through various forms. During his trip to China from November 5-8, in addition to participating in the 8th GMS Summit, the 10th ACMECS Summit, and the 11th CLMV Summit, PM Chính is scheduled to visit and carry out important activities in Yunnan province and Chongqing city.

According to Vietnamese Ambassador to China Phạm Sao Mai, this reflects the continuation of the tradition of high-level exchanges between the two Parties and two countries, as well as the strong emphasis placed by the Party, State, and the Government of Việt Nam on the Việt Nam-China relationship, especially the implementation of the high-level perceptions and agreements signed between the two sides from the perspective of localities. This promotes localities to optimise their potential and advantages as well as supplementary advantages, expanding and improving the effectiveness and quality of cooperative areas, benefiting both sides and heading to the 75th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations and the "Year of Việt Nam-China Humanistic Exchange" in 2025.

Ambassador Mai said that over the years, Việt Nam and China’s Yunnan province have shared strong cooperation, especially in economy and trade. In the first eight months of 2024, two-way trade reached $2.09 billion, an increase of 30.31 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In the future, Yunnan and Vietnamese localities will continue to expand and enhance the effectiveness of cooperation in areas such as delegation exchanges, economic trade and investment, border gate development, transportation connectivity, border management, and tourism. Additionally, with their geographical proximity, long-standing tradition of friendly relations, and cultural similarities, the two sides will carry out more cultural exchange activities. These efforts will help strengthen friendly relations and mutual understanding between the peoples, particularly those in the border areas of both countries.

Meanwhile, Chongqing is an important economic development centre in the western region of China. The locality is where President Hồ Chí Minh used to live in and has welcomed many Vietnamese Party and State leaders.

Since 2019, Việt Nam has been the largest trade partner of Chongqing among the ASEAN countries. In the first seven months of 2024, the import-export turnover between Việt Nam and Chongqing reached $3.03 billion, including Việt Nam's exports of $1.88 billion.

By the end of July 2024, Việt Nam had operated five investment projects in Chongqing with a total capital of $8.1 million. Meanwhile, Chongqing had invested in 22 projects in Việt Nam with $296 million. Vietnamese localities and Chongqing still have significant potential to further deepen and make their cooperation more substantial in many areas such as infrastructure connections, trade, high-tech industries, green transition and digital transformation, as well as tourism. — VNS