Big-picture perspective needed for China-Vietnam ties

Vietnam and China must transcend their recent bickering and see their ties from a broader perspective, lest they risk further souring their mutually beneficial relations.

This week's visit by special Vietnamese envoy Le Hong Anh to China made pleasant headlines in China, while Chinese President Xi Jinping's call for mending Sino-Vietnamese ties has been even more encouraging.

Anh's visit came months after a standoff between the two countries over drilling by a Chinese oil rig in the South China Sea.

But rather than locking themselves into unproductive arguments, Beijing and Hanoi now must step up high-level exchanges to fuel mutual understanding and trust, without which more turbulence is likely to recur in their relations.

In the past 35 years, the two sides have put historical woes behind them and have joined hands to embrace development opportunities and face common challenges.

This has led to close economic links between the two neighbors.

China -- a major market for Vietnamese products including ore and minerals, rubber, coal, textiles, fruits and vegetables -- has been the latter's largest trading partner for nine years in a row.

According to latest statistics from Hanoi, annual turnover between Vietnam and the economic giant next door reached 50.21 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, up 22 percent year on year.

Close Sino-Vietnamese ties also bode well for China, which views its surrounding countries as a community that shares a common goal of development.

"A good neighbor is not to be traded for gold," said President Xi, citing a Chinese proverb, while visiting Mongolia last week. He compared the trip to "visiting relatives."

For the world's second-largest economy, a stable regional environment translates to real benefits both for itself and its neighbors -- stronger economic and trade links, and more cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Such good momentum for friendship and cooperation should not be interrupted by disputes.

As Xi said in his talks with Le Hong Anh, "A neighbor cannot be moved away and it is in the common interests of both sides to be friendly to each other."

Yet China's enviable economic success over recent decades has nonetheless unnerved many, whose talks of China as a threat only serve their own political interests.

Such talks have completely missed the big picture of China's positive approach to neighborhood diplomacy.

China sees Vietnam as an important member of the ASEAN countries, and it is worth noting that the overall relationship between China and the ASEAN is solid and flourishing, bringing enormous benefits to people on all sides.

Beijing and Hanoi should realize that both of them have much to gain from close cooperation, and they should take a broader and longer-term perspective when it comes to bilateral ties.