Xi eyes new advances of shared goals with Hanoi

President Xi Jinping has called on China and Vietnam to intensify their efforts on all fronts to build a community with a shared future, and to make greater contributions to peace, stability, development, and prosperity in Asia and the world at large.

Xi made the remarks in a signed article titled "Building on past achievements and making new advances in pursuit of shared goals", which was published on Monday in Nhan Dan Newspaper of Vietnam, as he began his state visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Xi highlighted the need for the two countries to jointly safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and an open and cooperative international environment, saying: "Trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere."

Noting that China always gives Vietnam high priority in its relations with neighboring countries, Xi reiterated the country's commitment to the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in its neighborhood diplomacy.

"We will continue to pursue the policy of forging friendship and partnership with our neighbors. And we will steadily deepen friendly cooperation with them to advance Asia's modernization," he said.

Xi also hailed the sound development of bilateral relations, saying that China and Vietnam are friendly socialist neighbors who share the same ideals and extensive strategic interests.

"Building the China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance serves the common interests of our two countries and is conducive to peace, stability, development, and prosperity in our region and beyond," Xi said.

He called for deepening strategic mutual trust and advancing the socialist cause. He underlined the need for both countries to boost party, government, military, law enforcement and security cooperation, jointly tackle external risks and challenges, and uphold political security.

While highlighting the importance of continuing win-win cooperation, Xi said that Beijing and Hanoi should create greater synergy between their development strategies, implement well the cooperation plan between the two governments on synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the Two Corridors and One Economic Circle strategy, and build more platforms for economic and technological cooperation.

China stands ready to advance cooperation with Vietnam on the three standard-gauge railways in northern Vietnam and a smart port, and it welcomes more quality Vietnamese products into the Chinese market and encourages more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam, he said.

Saying that the two countries should step up cooperation on industrial and supply chains, Xi called for expanding partnership in emerging areas, such as 5G, artificial intelligence and green development, to create more benefits for the two peoples.

China and Vietnam have pursued closer cooperation on industrial and supply chains amid a sluggish global economic recovery. China has been Vietnam's biggest trading partner for over 20 years in a row, with total bilateral trade exceeding $260 billion in 2024.

In the article, Xi also emphasized the necessity to strengthen people-to-people exchanges to forge a closer bond between the two peoples, and enhance multilateral collaboration to promote Asia's prosperity and revitalization.

Both countries should work together with the Global South to uphold the common interests of developing countries, he said.

Speaking of the South China Sea issue, Xi called on both countries to properly manage differences and safeguard peace and stability in the region.

"The successful delimitation of our boundaries on land and in the Beibu Gulf demonstrates that with vision, we are fully capable of properly settling maritime issues through consultation and negotiation," he said.

"We should make good use of the maritime negotiation mechanism, so as to properly manage maritime differences, expand maritime cooperation, and build up conditions for the final resolution of the disputes."

Xi called for fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and actively advancing the consultation on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. "We should be impervious to all interference, bridge differences and expand common ground, and make the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation."