In February 1999, the General Secretaries of the Communist Parties of Vietnam and China identified the 16-word motto for developing bilateral relations in the 21st century as “friendly neighbors, comprehensive cooperation, long-term stability, and looking towards the future”. This is considered a guiding motto to promote bilateral relations to a new stage of development in the 21st century. Since then, the relationship between Vietnam and China has been promoted and developed comprehensively under the guidance and orientation of this motto.
Packing durian for export to China in Dak Lak , Vietnam, September 15, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
Important milestones Under the guidance of the 16-word motto, in 1999 and 2000, the two countries signed the Land Border Demarcation Agreement and the Gulf of Tonkin Demarcation Agreement, resolving two of the three issues related to territorial borders. In 2008, the two countries completed the demarcation and marker planting work along the entire Vietnam-China border, realizing the goal of building the Vietnam-China border into a border of peace and friendship, contributing to creating a peaceful and stable environment for the development of each country. In 2002, the leaders of the two countries set the goal of the relationship between the two countries and peoples as "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades, good partners" (later called the spirit of 4 goods). In 2008, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership. China is the first country with which Vietnam has established a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and Vietnam is also the first Southeast Asian country with which China has established this framework. The upgrading of relations has created an important framework for cooperation for the relationship between the two countries to enter a new stage of development. Friendly neighbors The friendly relationship has been consolidated and enhanced through official visits, meetings between senior leaders as well as between ministries, branches of the Party, the Government and between localities. High-level visits have become a tradition and are extremely important to the development of the relationship between the two countries. It can be said that China is the country that senior leaders of Vietnam have visited the most. During General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to China in 2022, the two sides continued to affirm important points related to the bilateral relationship, which are: Persisting in the 16-word motto and the spirit of 4 goods, consolidating traditional friendship, enhancing strategic sharing, enhancing political trust, and managing differences well. The two countries have established nearly 60 exchange and cooperation mechanisms from the central to local levels, relating to almost all fields such as the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation, Vietnam-China Border Defense Friendship Exchange, Strategic Security Dialogue, Defense Strategy Dialogue... Comprehensive Cooperation The comprehensiveness of cooperation between Vietnam and China is reflected in the level of cooperation including the central/government level and local level; participating subjects include ministries, branches, associations, organizations, businesses, and people; The fields of cooperation cover everything from diplomacy , defense, security to economy, culture... In particular, trade and economy is one of the first fields of cooperation opened after the two countries normalized relations and is the field of cooperation that has achieved outstanding results. In terms of trade, after 15 years of establishing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the import-export turnover between the two countries has increased nearly 9 times (from 20.8 billion USD to 175.5 billion USD). In the past few years, the level of market opening of China for some types of Vietnamese fruits has increased, gradually overcoming the situation of Vietnamese agricultural products exported to China mainly through high-risk and unstable small-scale trade. In terms of investment, after 15 years (2008 - 2023), China's investment in Vietnam has clearly improved in rank. In the first 9 months of 2023, China invested 2.92 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking second after Singapore in terms of investment volume. The 2022 Vietnam - China Joint Statement on the occasion of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to China stated: "The top leaders of the two Parties maintaining regular exchanges, orientations, and guidance of Vietnam - China relations play an important strategic role in the development of relations between the two Parties and the two countries." Therefore, the official visit to Vietnam after 7 years since 2017 by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping is an extremely important event in the relationship between the two countries. This is an opportunity for senior leaders of the two Parties and the two countries to deeply exchange opinions on bilateral relations and international and regional issues; to propose important directions and common perceptions of a guiding nature to further deepen the Vietnam - China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the current new situation.Laodong.vn
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