Join Hands to Deliver a Bright Future for China-Vietnam Relations

By H.E. Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
President of the People’s Republic of China

At the invitation of General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) Nguyen Phu Trong and President Truong Tan Sang, I will soon pay a state visit to Vietnam. This is like making a call on a neighbor and comrade, and I will visit your country with great pleasure.

My visit comes at a time when we commemorate the 65th anniversary of China-Vietnam relations. Talking about our two countries and bilateral relations, we will naturally think of these lines in a familiar song: “China and Vietnam, connected by mountains and rivers”. “We drink water from the same river, see each other every morning and evening, and wake up hearing the same roosters crowing at dawn”. As friendly neighbors sharing the same mountains and rivers, China and Vietnam enjoy long-standing people-to-people friendship.

In modern times, our peoples have supported each other in the hard struggle to win independence and national liberation, and we still cherish unforgettable memory of the close bond forged in those years. Late President Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese people,set up in China the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League to guide the revolutionary activities in Vietnam. He visited many places in China and forged profound friendship with Chinese soldiers and people. “Vietnam and China are friends with a deep bond of brotherhood and camaraderie.” This line from a poem written by him is still popular today. The famous late Vietnamese General Hong Shui (Nguyen Son), inspired by President Ho Chi Minh, took part in the Chinese revolution and went on the Long March undertaken by the Red Army. He was the only foreigner who was conferred the rank of Major General in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army when New China was founded. It is rare for someone to be a general of two countries, just like he was. China extended full support to Vietnam in its struggle for liberation. Chinese scientist Tu Youyou was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her research on artemisinin, which was part of the efforts made by China to support Vietnam in the fight against malaria in the 1960s. Many such moving stories are still remembered by the people of our two countries.

In the new era, China and Vietnam, two countries with the same vision and values and bound by the shared future, have helped and supported each other in the course of socialist development endeavors. We have enriched our bilateral relations, expanded common interests and achieved fruitful outcomes in our practical cooperation. China and Vietnam have forged an all-round strategic partnership of cooperation, put in place the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation and a number of other cooperation mechanisms, and made remarkable progress in business and people-to-people exchanges. China has been the largest trading partner of Vietnam for 11 years, and Vietnam is the second largest trading partner of China among ASEAN countries. Our two-way trade is expected to reach the target of US$100 billion ahead of plan. Last year our people made over three million mutual visits and every week, 71 flights connect China and Vietnam.

More importantly, China and Vietnam have completed the delimitation of the boundaries on land and in Beibu Gulf, thus laying a solid foundation for sustaining peace, stability and common development in our border areas. These achievements fully show that stronger China-Vietnam friendship and our enhanced mutually-beneficial cooperation meet the fundamental interests of our two countries; they have brought benefits to our two peoples, and are conducive to development and stability of both countries as well as peace and prosperity of our region.

As I write this article, China and Vietnam have entered the crucial stage of reform and development. We Chinese are striving to achieve the two centenary goals and realize the Chinese dream of the great national rejuvenation in accordance with the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, namely, deepening all-round reform, fully advancing the rule of law and enforcing strict party discipline to finish the building of a society of initial prosperity in all respects. Vietnam is making preparations for the opening of the twelfth National Congress of the VCP and intensifying efforts to build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, just and culturally advanced. Against this background, growing China-Vietnam friendship and deepening mutually-beneficial cooperation is not only an important historic mission for us; it is also also what we need to do to promote our respective national development and advance our strategic interests.

As a good neighbor, friend, comrade and partner of Vietnam, China wishes the twelfth VCP national congress success and staunchly supports Vietnam in embarking on a path of building socialism suited to Vietnam’s national conditions and fully advance the cause of reform and innovation. China will continue to pursue a policy of promoting amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusive ties with its neighbors, and forging partnership and friendship with them. We are committed to building an Asian community of shared future, and promoting the steady and sound growth of China-Vietnam relations in the new era.

We should bear in mind the larger picture and our long-term interests to ensure that our relations advance in the right direction. China is ready to maintain high-level exchanges with Vietnam in flexible and diversified ways to strengthen strategic consultation. We should maintain timely exchange of views on bilateral relations and major issues of mutual interest and further consolidate the political foundation of the bilateral relations.

We should draw on each other’s experience and enhance cooperation so as to achieve common development and prosperity. Both sides should continue to give full play to the coordinating role of the China-Vietnam Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation. We should align our development strategies, jointly pursue the “Belt and Road” and the “Two Economic Corridors and One Economic Circle around the Beibu Gulf” initiatives, expand cooperation in production capacity and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure connectivity, so as to realize win-win progress and deliver more benefits to our two peoples.

We should expand exchanges and enhance mutual understanding so as to strengthen public support for growing the bilateral relations. China-Vietnam relations cannot develop without the understanding and support of our peoples. China will, as always, support and encourage more people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Vietnam through various activities like youth friendly meeting, youth festival, and people’s forum, so as to carry forward China-Vietnam friendship for generations to come.

We should seek proper solutions to existing issues in accordance with the principle of increasing mutual understanding and engaging in friendly consultation. Both sides should make good use of such mechanisms as the boundary talks between the two governments, build on the successful experience of boundary delimitation on land and in Beibu Gulf, and seek mutually acceptable, overall and long-term settlement of the maritime issues through dialogue and consultation. During this process, both sides need to jointly uphold stability at sea, actively explore maritime cooperation and create favorable conditions for growing our bilateral relations.

In China, we have this old saying: “There is nothing that cannot be accomplished when people pool their strength and put heads together”. And there is a similar Vietnamese saying: “A single tree cannot grow into a forest, while many trees will create a mountain.” I look forward to having in-depth discussion with Vietnamese leaders during my visit to chart the course for growing steady and sustainable China-Vietnam relations. I am convinced that when China and Vietnam join hands and enhance cooperation, we will surely deliver an even brighter future and realize common development and prosperity for China and Vietnam.