In the article, the expert affirmed that the trip is especially important because it marks the first international meeting taking place after Xi Jinping was re-elected as General Secretary at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This is also the first foreign trip of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong since the 13th National Congress of the CPV.
Trofimchuk said the visit shows that the relationship between Vietnam and China is reaching a new height.
The article highlighted that despite COVID-19-induced barriers, the CPV and the CPC operated flexibly with high efficiency. In the 2020-2022 period, there were four phone calls between Trong and Xi.
Trofimchuk believed that the two Parties’ positive relations lay favourable conditions for effective and substantive cooperation between the two countries. Their bilateral trade maintains positive growth momentum given the pandemic, with Vietnam being China's largest trading partner in ASEAN since 2016.
According to the article, in 2021, total trade turnover between Vietnam and China hit 165.9 billion USD, an increase of 24.6% compared to 2020. In the first eight months of 2022, bilateral import and export turnover rose by 10.8% year-on-year. Collaboration in the field of health and disease prevention, especially COVID-19 control, is also an important link in bilateral ties.
