Leaders of communist neighbours China and Vietnam won’t let maritime dispute sour relations
Jiang Xun says the strong relationship between the two countries’ ruling parties has contributed to enduring bilateral relations, and a visit by Vietnam’s party chief to China this week will further strengthen ties
The remarkable resilience of the relationship between China and Vietnam can be credited, in large part, to the strong ties between the communist parties of both countries. The two nations have had military clashes before, and remain locked today in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Nonetheless, friendly ties between the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam often act as a safety buffer, reining in tempers before any bilateral argument or disagreement gets out of hand.
The question facing Vietnam’s PM on his first China visit: how close to get to Beijing
In 2017, the first foreign leader to visit China will be Vietnamese. Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, will visit Beijing this week at the invitation of Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ), general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
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A Vietnamese diplomat based in Beijing said the visit – which comes just ahead of the Lunar New Year, a festival celebrated in both countries – will mark the 67th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations. The visit, Trong’s first to China since the successful conclusion of his party’s 12th national congress last year, will be aimed at improving bilateral relations.
In Beijing, the two countries are expected to sign cooperation deals for 18 projects. All preparatory work on 10 of them has been completed, and they are ready to be inked. These include an agreement for cooperation on training party cadres, a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation between the Vietnamese Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs and the Development Research Centre of the Chinese State Council, and a strategic outlook for cooperation between the two countries’ defence ministries.
Other deals are still being negotiated. These include a protocol for China to provide technical support for the building of a coastal railway linking Lào Cai, Hanoi and Haiphong.
How Vietnam has kept China at bay over thousands of years
Mutual interests outweigh our differences, Chinese President Xi Jinping tells visiting Vietnamese PM
