PM’s official visit hoped to continue fostering Vietnam - China partnership

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (Photo: VNA)

The coming trip to China by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is his first official visit there and also the first of its kind by a Government leader of Vietnam in seven years, expected to further intensify the two countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

PM Chinh will pay an official visit to China and attend in the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin from June 25 to 28 at the invitation Chinese Premier Li Qiang and WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab.

The trip is made in the context that relations between the two countries have been growing well, especially since the official visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong from October 30 to November 1, 2022, while connections in economy, trade, and other fields have continued thriving.

The Vietnam - China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has sustained its development trend and obtained many encouraging results over the recent past.

Exchanges and meetings at all levels have been held frequently. The most outstanding was Party leader Trong's China visit. The General Secretaries of the two Parties have regularly exchanged letters and messages of greetings on the occasion of major events of the countries and bilateral relations. Then Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc offered congratulations to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on China’s hosting of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, on February 4. Meanwhile, PM Chinh and then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang talked over the phone twice last year, on January 13 and September 19.

The two sides successfully organised the 14th meeting of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in person on July 13. In addition, exchanges and cooperation between the Vietnamese and Chinese Parties, parliaments, fronts, ministries, sectors, localities, and people’s organisations have also taken place regularly.

Since the start of 2023, leaders of both countries have also maintained exchanges and meetings in flexible forms such as the exchanges of greetings between the two Parties’ General Secretaries on the occasion of the Lunar New Year and the 73rd anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (January 18), Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulations to new Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong on March 2, Vietnamese leaders’ congratulations to their Chinese counterparts on the latter’s elections at the 2023 sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, PM Chinh’s phone talks with Premier Li Qiang on April 4, and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s teleconferenced talks with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China Zhao Leji on March 27.

Meanwhile, bilateral economic, trade, and investment links have remained on the rise. Vietnam is currently the fourth largest trade partner of China, with bilateral trade reaching 175 billion USD in 2022 and 61.5 billion USD in the first five months of 2023.

China poured 1.08 billion USD into 156 projects in Vietnam between January - May, establishing itself as the third biggest foreign direct investor here (after Singapore and Japan). As of May 20, China ranked sixth among the 143 countries and territories with FDI in Vietnam, with 3,720 valid projects worth nearly 24.9 billion USD in total.

China has also been the largest source of foreign visitors to Vietnam for many years, topping 5.8 million in the pre-pandemic 2019, equivalent to one-third of the total international arrivals in Vietnam. Since March 25 this year, China has officially permitted tourist groups to visit Vietnam, resumed some commercial air routes, and adjusted the visa, entry, exit, and health quarantine policies for foreign visitors to this country.

PM Chinh’s official visit aims to help carry out the foreign policy of Vietnam identified at the 13th National Party Congress and continue implementing the outcomes of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official visit to China, including the joint statement on the continued reinforcement of the two countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Meanwhile, the annual AMNC in Tianjin, held by the WEF and the Chinese Government, is the second biggest after the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos.

Themed “Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy”, the 14th AMNC will feature more than 100 sessions.

According to Spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang, at this year’s AMNC, PM Chinh will deliver an important speech at the plenary session, address leaders’ session on the prevention of a lost decade, meet with WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, join a WEF leader in chairing the WEF’s Country Strategic Dialogue on Vietnam, and engage in bilateral meetings with leaders of some countries and enterprises.

The PM’s participation in the 14th AMNC is a chance for Vietnam to affirm its consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, persification and multilateralisation of external relations, and comprehensive and intensive integration into the world; and also popularise its images, attract investment, strengthen ties with global multinationals, and update itself with new trends and advanced development and governance mindsets, she added./.