It was reported that 36 agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed between China and Vietnam in the fields of diplomacy, trade, defense and maritime.
According to Viet Nam News, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with General Secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party (VKP) Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, as part of his 2-day official visit, which started yesterday.
In his statement after the official welcome ceremony, Nguyen said that improving Vietnam’s relations with China is the first priority and strategic choice.
Stating that strong relations will contribute to global peace and progress as well as the prosperity of both nations, Nguyen underlined that Xi’s third visit to his country coincides with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Partnership between the two countries.
Cooperation in diplomacy, trade, defense and maritime fields
During the visit, 36 agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed between ministries, institutions, industries and local governments of China and Vietnam.
It was stated that the memorandums of understanding and agreements signed to improve cooperation between the parties were in the fields of diplomacy, trade, defense and maritime.
Xi in Vietnam shortly after Biden’s visit
The Chinese leader visited Vietnam shortly after US President Joe Biden’s visit in September.
The Beijing administration aims to consolidate its ideological and economic ties with Vietnam, which it fears will move closer to the axis of partnerships established by the United States with its Indo-Pacific strategy.
During his visit, Biden announced that they had upgraded US-Vietnam relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”. Thus, the US’s relations with Vietnam were on par with China’s relations with Vietnam. In November, Vietnam raised its relations with Japan, the US ally in the region, to the same level.
Vietnam occupies a critical place in the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy to develop alliance and partnership ties with regional countries to counterbalance China’s growing influence in the Asia-Pacific.
During his visit to Vietnam on September 10, Biden gave a message to the Hanoi administration to improve cooperation in the fields of economy, security and technology, while cooperation agreements on chip production and rare metals, which are in dispute between China and the USA, were announced during the visit.
While China sees the US’s steps to expand its network of partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region as an effort to “create an exclusionary military bloc” against itself, sovereignty disputes that frequently turn into tensions between coastal countries in the South China Sea are due to China’s increasing military presence and interventionist attitude. The disturbance brings the countries of the region closer to the USA.
Vietnam, which has the longest coastline in the South China Sea, is among the countries most affected by such frictions, despite its ideological closeness and good relations with China.
It is among the 5 countries in the world governed by communist regimes, along with China and Vietnam, Cuba, Laos and North Korea.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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