China and Vietnam must build stronger ties, ‘shared destiny’, Xi Jinping tells counterpart

Beijing ‘willing to encourage’ more mainland enterprises to boost investment in neighbour as it calls for ‘fair, just’ business environment

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (left) with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Handout

Published: 1:15am, 27 Jun 2024Updated: 4:01am, 27 Jun 2024

Beijing and Hanoi should further strengthen cooperation while properly handling their disputes in the South China Sea, President Xi Jinping told Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday.

“The two sides should properly handle our maritime issues, accelerate joint maritime development and together maintain regional peace and stability,” Xi said to Chinh at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Their meeting followed on Xi’s visit with Hanoi’s leadership last December and took place as China seeks to bolster ties with Vietnam amid fierce competition with the United States for regional influence.

Chinh’s working trip came on the heels of an official visit to Hanoi last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin. And it marked the prime minister’s first official visit since Vietnam’s political turmoil in March when three of its top five leaders stepped down.

On Wednesday, Xi restated his pledge made in December with Vietnamese Communist Party boss Nguyen Phu Trong to build a “China-Vietnam community of shared destiny with strategic significance”.

The two countries should expand cooperation in their economies and trade, the Chinese leader said, as well as maintain high-level exchanges and advance the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s global trade and infrastructure investment scheme.