NEW STATURE IN
VIETNAM-CHINA RELATIONS

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and his spouse are paying a state visit to Vietnam from December 12-13, 2023, at the invitation of General Secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and his spouse, and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong and his spouse. 

This is the first visit to Vietnam by the most powerful leader of the Party and State of China after the 20th Congress of the CPC, one year after the historic visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (October 2022). 

The visit of CPC General Secretary and President Xi Jinping is taking place on the occasion of Vietnam and China celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership (2008-2023).

The 20th Congress of the CPC (October 2022) proposed a grand and strategic vision as well as steps to make China complete modernisation by 2035 and become a modern socialist power in the mid-21st century. The success of the 20th Congress is an important milestone in the CPC’s journey to lead the country into a new stage of development.

At the 20th Congress of the CPC, with the participation of more than 2,300 delegates representing more than 96 million CPC members, the Chinese top leader Xi Jinping was re-elected as the CPC General Secretary of the 20th tenure and was delivered as the “leadership core” of the CPC Central Committee and the CPC as well.

From the 19th CPC Congress, China has established “Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era” as a guiding ideology. At the 20th Congress, the achievements and new development of “Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era” over the past ten years were included in the revised CPC Charter. 

In the long-term strategic path of China's development until the middle of the 21st century, the 20th Congress has set out the tasks and missions of the Communist Party of China in the new era, a new journey to complete the building of a modern socialist power, towards achieving the goal of the “second 100 years”. Accordingly, from 2020 to 2035, socialist modernisation will be implemented; from 2035 to the middle of the 21st century, the construction of a modernised socialist power that is rich, strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious, and beautiful will be completed. 

Characteristics of the Chinese model’s modernisation goals include implementation at a population scale larger than 1.4 billion people; high-quality development; all people are wealthy together with a harmonious combination between material civilisation and spiritual civilisation; human and nature will coexist harmoniously; and taking the path of peaceful development. 

At the same time, China is aiming to concretise its goal of becoming the world’s leading “power” by setting a series of goals in all fields, such as building an economic power and military power, security power, manufacturing power, agricultural power, trade power, space power, transportation power, cyber power, digital power, education power, science and technology power, talent power, and sports power.

After more than 40 years of high-speed economic growth, China's economic scale has risen to become the second-largest economy in the world. Over the past ten years, since 2012, despite being affected by the rapidly changing world situation, the COVID-19 outbreak and downward pressure on the domestic economy, China has still obtained historic achievements, including moving to high-quality development, solving the problem of absolute poverty, and completing the comprehensive construction of a moderately prosperous society on schedule. In its economic development orientation, China has shifted from thinking of development as the top task to determining high-quality development as the first and foremost task, promoting digital economic development, and constructing the new development pattern of “double circulation”.  

To date, China has become a country using a complete industrial system of 220 industries with the highest output in the world. The country has led the world in manufacturing added value for 11 consecutive years, accounting for nearly 30% of the global share; more than 40% of China's manufacturing products have the largest output in the world. China also has fast-growing and high-quality infrastructure and has built the world's largest modern transportation and infrastructure system, leading the world in roads and high-speed railways.

Regarding foreign policy, China adheres to the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and peace, emphasising opposition to hegemony, power politics, and a Cold War mentality. The country maintains its diplomatic stance of 'non-interference' in the internal affairs of other countries. With major countries, China promotes peaceful coexistence, overall stability and balanced development. With neighbouring countries, the country adheres to the diplomatic motto of "friendship, sincerity, reciprocity and inclusiveness", friendliness, and becoming partners. With developing countries, China strengthens solidarity and cooperation. In the international arena, China adheres to the basic policy of foreign openness and globalisation. At the same time, the country actively participates and builds global governance institutions.

Over the past 73 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations (1950 - 2023), Vietnam and China have maintained a stable development, with many positive results, especially after the official visit to China by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2022. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was the first foreign leader to be invited and officially welcomed by Chinese leaders right after the successful conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. 

The relationship between the two Parties and the two countries is constantly developing in a healthy and stable direction, with political trust between senior leaders of the two Parties and the two countries constantly being strengthened and deepened. Leaders of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and Fatherland Front of the two countries regularly meet and exchange closely. Among them, there are many significant high-level visits in the relationship between the two countries.

In particular, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to China in 2022 was of historical significance, contributing to enhancing political understanding and trust, consolidating, expanding and increasing the effectiveness of relations between the two Parties, and making orientations for the bilateral relations. The visit also contributed to promoting cooperation on State channels while creating new motivation for equal cooperation and mutual benefit in economics, trade, and investment; improving the effectiveness of defence-security cooperation; strengthening bilateral coordination at international forums; and developing relationships between mass organisations, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

The State visit to Vietnam by Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping is a diplomatic activity of extreme importance and long-term significance for the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries. This is the third visit to Vietnam by Xi Jinping as General Secretary and President of China, following the two previous ones in 2015 and 2017. He had visited Vietnam as Vice President of China in 2011. His State visit to Vietnam this year affirms both countries’ importance and top priority in consolidating and developing stable and sustainable Vietnam-China relations for the benefit of the two countries.

Based on the Vietnam-China Joint Statement on continuing to strengthen and deepen the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, issued after Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visited China in 2022, the two countries have continued to effectively carry out cooperation and exchange mechanisms between both Parties, between the Vietnamese Government and National Assembly and the Government and the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, and between the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The cooperation in economics, trade and investment is a bright spot in the two countries' relations and has been increasingly deepened. Vietnam continues to be China's largest trading partner in ASEAN and China's 4th trading partner globally (by single country). China has been Vietnam's largest trading partner for 20 consecutive years. The two countries’ bilateral trade turnover increased nine times from 20 billion USD in 2008 to nearly 180 billion USD in 2022. After 15 years since their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership was established, China’s investment in Vietnam increased more than ten times from the cumulative level of 2 billion USD in 2008 to more than 25 billion USD today.

In 2022, Vietnam-China import-export turnover reached 175.56 billion USD (up 5.47%). In the first ten months of 2023, China’s investment in Vietnam reached more than 2.5 billion USD with 555 projects, making it the 4th largest FDI investor in Vietnam. With more than 4,000 valid projects accumulated until October 2023, China maintains the 6th position out of 143 countries and territories with FDI in Vietnam.

This year, many Chinese enterprises, especially those with the ability to participate deeply in the global supply chain, have increased their investment surveys in northern Vietnamese provinces. For instance, China’s largest smartphone assembly company Wingtech, pledged to continue surveying and decided to invest in Phu Tho Province. Goertek poured 280 million USD into a new project and expanded an existing one in Bac Ninh Province, while China’s largest EV company BYD invested 269 million USD in a car parts project in Phu Tho Province.

People-to-people exchange and cooperation between localities are active with many substantive results. To date, nearly 60 Vietnamese and Chinese provinces have established cooperative and friendly relations with Chinese localities. The two sides’ socio-political organisations and localities have established and organised many cooperation mechanisms and programmes. For years, China has been the top source of foreign visitors in Vietnam (with 5.8 million in 2019, accounting for one-third of total international arrivals in Vietnam). As of October 2023, Vietnam welcomed 1.3 million Chinese visitors, the second largest source of foreign visitors to Vietnam.

Along with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s historic visit to China in 2022, Chinese General Secretary and President Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam will continue to create a strong impetus for both sides’ agencies, localities and people’s organisations to maintain and develop existing cooperation mechanisms, thereby strengthening a firm and fine social foundation for the development of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.