Strengthening trust, promoting comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and China

Today, April 14, General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping will begin a state visit to Vietnam from April 14-15 at the invitation of General Secretary To Lam and President Luong Cuong. It is expected that at noon today, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping will arrive in Hanoi and the official welcoming ceremony will take place in the afternoon of the same day.

During this visit, in an interview with Thanh Nien Newspaper , Mr. Nguyen Vinh Quang, former Director of the China - Northeast Asia Department (Foreign Affairs Committee of the Party Central Committee), Vice President of the Vietnam - China Friendship Association, said that in terms of Vietnam - China relations in history as well as in recent years, the above visits are very important.

General Secretary To Lam and General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping

PHOTO: VNA

"This year has one more important feature than other years, which is the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and China," Mr. Quang shared.

Besides, this is Mr. Xi Jinping's first foreign trip in 2025, from which it can be seen that, for Mr. Xi Jinping, China's view of Vietnam is important.

The Vice President of the Vietnam-China Friendship Association hopes that through this visit, the leaders of the two countries will exchange and reach new common perceptions, bringing the relationship between the two countries to a new level. Specifically, the two sides will reach a number of agreements on economic, trade and investment cooperation, further facilitating the circulation of goods, helping to reduce the trade balance gap between the two countries.

"I hope that infrastructure connection between the two countries, first of all railways, will be one of the topics discussed and an agreement reached, creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural, forestry, aquatic and seafood products, to enter the Chinese market," said Mr. Quang.

After more than 1 year of the two countries building the "Vietnam - China Community of Shared Future of Strategic Significance", according to Mr. Quang, the two sides have reached an agreement based on a long-term vision of the relationship between the two countries, not 1 - 2 years.

However, over the past year, the above agreement has had a strong impact on the awareness of the leaders and people of the two countries, creating a positive driving force to promote the development of bilateral relations.

"The most obvious thing is that feelings and trust have increased. Trust in society, in leaders, in ministries, sectors, and in businesses of the two countries has increased. Last year, businesses of both sides showed more trust in each other, and economic and trade cooperation last year developed very impressively," Mr. Quang affirmed.

In 2024, trade turnover exceeded 200 billion USD, according to Vietnam's statistics and 260 billion USD, according to China's data. Vietnam continues to be the largest trading partner in ASEAN and the 4th largest trading partner of China in the world. China has become the largest export market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products, bringing practical benefits to millions of Vietnamese farmers.

To achieve such results, Mr. Quang said that the Chinese also feel that investing in Vietnam and doing business in Vietnam is more effective and more trustworthy, since the two countries have brought their relationship to a new level, that is, "Community of shared future with strategic significance".

People-to-people exchange promotes bilateral relations

Regarding people-to-people exchanges, diplomat Nguyen Vinh Quang emphasized that people-to-people exchanges play a very special role. The Vietnamese and Chinese peoples have been exchanging for thousands of years, and there has been a clear cultural exchange between the two peoples. Over the past 75 years, that exchange has increasingly promoted closer and more cohesive relations between the two countries.

Mr. Nguyen Vinh Quang, former Director of the China - Northeast Asia Department (Central Foreign Affairs Commission), Vice President of the Vietnam - China Friendship Association

PHOTO: DAU TIEN DAT

"Friendly relations can only be built on the basis of mutual understanding and sympathy. To understand each other, we need to increase human exchanges. In other words, we need to increase people-to-people exchanges in many forms," Mr. Quang acknowledged.

During General Secretary and President Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam in 2023, the two sides' leaders discussed and proposed the "6 more" orientation to promote the strong development of bilateral relations. The visit has made the social foundation more solid, including the foundation of the people's trust in the two countries, and people-to-people diplomacy plays an important role in realizing this goal.

In his speech at the program "Meeting Vietnamese and Chinese students of all periods" held in March, General Secretary To Lam affirmed that in reality, the affection between the people of the two countries is inspired and maintained by the young generation.

"Human emotions are formed from youth to old age and develop gradually. Therefore, when talking about the feelings of the people of the two countries, it must be nurtured from a young age, as General Secretary To Lam emphasized, it must come from the feelings of the young generation," Mr. Quang affirmed.

General Secretary To Lam took a photo with delegates attending the program Meeting Vietnamese and Chinese students of all periods.

PHOTO: TUAN MINH

This means we must pay attention to nurturing the young generation of the two countries to have emotional connections and inherit the feelings of their predecessors. This is the task of all agencies and organizations of the two countries.

"The friendship between the people of the two countries, after all, is not formed overnight but is a long-term process. Therefore, to have friendship between the people of the two countries, we must pay attention to nurturing it from the young generation," Mr. Quang emphasized.

From the perspective of the Vietnam - China Friendship Association, according to Mr. Quang, the association is very interested in cultivating awareness for the younger generation. To do that well, it is necessary to always educate the younger generation not to forget history.

The predecessors have built and nurtured that friendship, becoming a treasure for the two nations, the next generation has the mission to inherit and develop, for the benefit of the people of the two countries. This is not only the association's own task, but the association plays a core role in promoting and promoting exchanges between the young generation.

Red tourism activities, following Uncle Ho's footsteps on Chinese soil, aim to make the people of the two countries in general and the young generation in particular more deeply aware of the history of relations between previous leaders and the relations between the two peoples through the revolutions of the two nations.