Beijing, Hanoi vow to strengthen friendship

China and Vietnam vowed on Monday to promote the building of their bilateral community with a shared future to make more fruitful achievements and contribute to regional peace, stability and development.

Premier Li Qiang and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the statement during their meeting in Dalian, Liaoning province.

Both leaders are in the coastal city to attend the World Economic Forum's 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, or 2024 Summer Davos, which will open on Tuesday and run until Thursday.

Li said that China and Vietnam share a profound friendship akin to "comrades and brothers".

Last year, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, jointly announced the establishment of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, outlining a grand blueprint for comprehensive strategic cooperation between the two countries in the new era, Li said.

The premier expressed China's willingness to work with Vietnam to further implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of both parties, and promote the construction of the China-Vietnam community with a shared future to benefit the people of both countries.

Li called on both countries to give top priority to developing bilateral relations in their respective foreign policy.

Both sides should fully utilize their economic complementarities, focus on the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy, continuously expand trade and investment, further enhance connectivity, and create new growth drivers through cooperation in the fields of new energy and the digital economy, he said.

China is willing to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam in areas such as tourism, healthcare, education and youth development, continuously consolidating the foundation of friendship between the two countries, the premier added.

Chinh arrived in Dalian on Monday, his third visit to China in a year. Last year, Chinh visited China from June 25 to 28 to attend the 2023 Summer Davos in Tianjin, and then from Sept 16 to 19 to attend the 20th China-ASEAN Expo.

During his meeting with Li, Chinh said that strengthening long-term friendly cooperation with China is an essential requirement, strategic choice and top priority of Vietnam's foreign policy.

Vietnam always remembers and sincerely appreciates the strong support provided by China for its national independence and reunification, as well as the promotion of the country's economic and social development, he said.

The prime minister said that Vietnam firmly adheres to the one-China policy, and supports China's development and its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.