Vietnamese scholars and experts have highly lauded Chinese President Xi Jinping's signed article titled "For a New Vista in China-Vietnam Friendship," published Thursday on mainstream Vietnamese media Nhan Dan.[Special coverage]
The article was published ahead of Xi's state visit to Vietnam, where he will also attend the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang.
In the article, The Chinese president reviewed the China-Vietnam friendship "forged with blood" by the older generation of leaders and the two peoples and called on both sides to make greater efforts to promote bilateral ties.
"It is a nice surprise that before his visit, President Xi sent messages to Vietnamese public via such a friendly channel," noted Tran Viet Thai, deputy general director of the Institute for Foreign Strategic Studies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
"His words recalled unforgettable memories when we two peoples stood side by side as comrades, supporting each other in our fight for liberty and independence. That is really touching," Bui Tri Dung, editor at Vietnam's Investment newspaper told Xinhua.
Luu Bich Ho, former director of the Institute of Development Strategy under the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, also said that he was impressed by Xi's article.
President Xi expressed the hope that the two countries jointly create a new vista in China-Vietnam relations. "These words are remarkable," Ho noted to Xinhua on Thursday afternoon.
According to the expert, the vista is being driven by three factors. Firstly, Vietnam and China are both entering new periods of pursuing development, reform and innovation. Secondly, China and Vietnam are making great efforts to lift cooperation to a higher level which will bring more practical benefits for peoples of both sides. Thirdly, given changing global context, cooperation is crucial to ensure stability and development not only for Vietnam and China, but also for the region and the world.
Do Tien Sam, former director of the Institute of Chinese Studies under Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, told Xinhua that he strongly agreed with Xi's thoughts on deepening cooperation and foster new prospects for "our interconnected interests."
In his article, Xi said that the two sides need to enhance the complementarity of their development strategies and work for substantive progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas, including infrastructure, trade, industrial capacity, cross-border economic cooperation zones and agriculture.
"Xi's words stressed the need to bring more practical benefit to peoples," said Sam, noting that this is a long-awaited direction.
The article also stressed that two countries should strengthen coordination and create new highlights in multilateral cooperation.
Sam noted that Vietnam and China have huge potential to work together on this aspect as both countries are members of several multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the United Nations, APEC, China-ASEAN cooperation frameworks and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism.
Like other experts, Sam is looking forward to the success of Xi's visit to Vietnam. "I hope that the visit will mark a milestone in Vietnam-China friendship, creating new momentum for pragmatic development of our bilateral relations," he told Xinhua.
