Friendship and cooperation high on agenda of trip

President Xi Jinping's state visit to Vietnam has fueled high expectations that Beijing and Hanoi will further elevate their relationship, boost cooperation in various sectors and strengthen their long-lasting traditional friendship.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is set to travel to Hanoi for a two-day visit starting on Dec 12, his first in six years to the Southeast Asian nation.

Xi will be hosted during the visit by Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong.

Both nations attach great importance to Xi's visit, and both Beijing and Hanoi believe that the elevation of the relationship to a new level represents a natural and opportune development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Dec 11.

Nguyen Minh Vu, the permanent deputy foreign minister of Vietnam, said the visit will contribute to deepening bilateral cooperation and long-term relations between the two countries.

The trip, which coincides with the 15th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam, is expected to be a new milestone in bilateral relations, Vu told Viet Nam News, the English-language newspaper of the official Vietnam News Agency.

Vu said he expects to see substantial cooperation outcomes from the visit and that there will be a spillover effect to all levels, sectors and people of all walks of life.

The visit, along with last year's official visit to China by Nguyen Phu Trong, is expected to continue to create strong motivation and momentum for the two countries' sectors, localities and people to continue to maintain and develop their existing relationship, thereby building a solid and good social foundation for the development of bilateral relations, the Vietnamese diplomat said.

Pham Sao Mai, the ambassador of Vietnam to China, said in an interview that the two nations will further consolidate political mutual trust, actively bolster areas of collaboration and bring bilateral relations to a more substantive and effective stage of development.

The envoy said China has largely resumed commercial flights to and from Vietnam, with approximately 200 round-trip flights per week. The number of Chinese tourist trips to Vietnam reached 1.5 million in the first 11 months of this year.

China has been Vietnam's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while Vietnam is China's largest trading partner within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

According to data from Vietnamese authorities, direct investment from China to Vietnam reached $2.69 billion in the first eight months of 2023, making China the second-largest contributor of foreign investment in Vietnam.

Song Qingrun, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University's School of Asian Studies, said the substantial outcomes from the pragmatic cooperation between Beijing and Hanoi have laid a solid foundation for elevating the relationship to a new height.

"A new stage of bilateral ties will help both sides to follow distinctive paths to modernization, enrich the developmental trajectories for other developing nations to achieve modernization and better serve the well-being of the people in both countries," he said.

Xi's visit to Vietnam is important for the Southeast Asian nation's economy, said Nguyen Trung Dung, chairman of Xunhasaba, Vietnam's book export and import agency.

"China and Vietnam have formed long-term cooperation in the economy and we hope that after President Xi comes to Vietnam, the cooperation can be deeper," Dung told China Daily.

Noting that an increasing number of people in Vietnam are interested in Chinese books, Dung said the agency has set up a department for China-related business to import Chinese books and magazines.

In particular, Dung said for the visit, the company is helping, together with its Chinese partners, to organize an exhibition showcasing a series of books by Xi, including Up and Out of Poverty and The Governance of China.