Vietnam to Benefit from China’s Increased Market Access

Chinese Premier Li Qiang made the statement during his talks held in Beijing, China, on June 26 with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Sharing Li Qiang’s delight at the development trend of the bilateral ties since the historic visit to China in late 2022 by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, PM Chinh stressed that the Party, State, and people of Vietnam consistently place importance on boosting the sound relations with the fraternal Chinese Party, Government, and people.

This is the unwavering policy, the strategic choice, and the top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, he said.

China always considers Vietnam as a priority direction in its foreign policy with neighbouring countries and supports Vietnam in successfully carrying out national industrialisation and modernisation and raise its position in the world, Premier Li said.

At the talks, the two leaders consented to accelerate the effective implementation of the Vietnam – China joint statement on the continued enhancement of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership; while maintaining exchanges and meetings at all levels as well as between the two Parties, the two Governments, the National Assembly of Vietnam and the National People’s Congress of China, and the Vietnam Fatherland Front and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

They concurred to bring into play the role of the Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation in coordinating cooperation fields; expand collaboration in key areas such as diplomacy, defence, and security; boost practical cooperation across a variety of fields and friendship exchanges between localities and people’s organisations of the two countries, build the shared land border into a border of peace, stability, cooperation and development; and properly control differences, maintain peace and stability at sea; and augment coordination at international and regional forums.

PM Chinh stated that both sides should make use of their geographical advantages and complementarity to step up result-oriented cooperation.

He suggested China to speed up the opening of its market to agricultural and aquatic products of Vietnam; create conditions for the early establishment of trade promotion offices of Vietnam in Chengdu city of Sichuan province and Haikou city of Hainan province; coordinate to improve the customs clearance capacity to avoid goods congestion at border gates; work together to thoroughly deal with problems of some cooperation projects in the spirit of “harmonising interests and sharing risks”; and speed up the implementation of China’s non-refundable aid packages for Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Government leader asked the two sides further boost ties in finance, agriculture, transport, environment, health care, and science – technology, with a focus on digital transformation, green growth, circular economy, and climate change fight; exchange experience in macro-economic management and governance of financial and monetary policies; along with crop production, agricultural processing, disease control, and protection of fishery resources in the Gulf of Tonkin.

He urged both nations to enhance rail, road, and sea connectivity and soon sign an agreement on search and rescue at sea; comprehensively resume commercial flights; strengthen cooperation in managing water resources in the Mekong – Lancang river basin; properly carry out the agreements on educational, cultural and tourism cooperation; and hold people-to-people exchanges in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

Li, in turm, affirmed his nation’s willingness to deepen substantive cooperation with Vietnam, and continuously enrich the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Appreciating Vietnam’s rapid economic development and dynamic business environment in the region, he said that the two countries hold huge potential for promoting economic and trade cooperation.

China will further open its market for Vietnamese goods, especially high-quality agricultural and aquatic products and fruits; coordinate in creating favourable conditions for quarantine and customs clearance, and is willing to work together with Vietnam to address obstacles related to institutions and policies, he stated.

He underscored the need to strengthen strategic connectivity, especially in infrastructure and transport; promote cooperation in economy, trade and investment in the fields of production, manufacturing and agriculture.

People-to-people exchanges and cooperation between localities play an important role in enhancing understanding, trust and friendship between the two countries, stressing the need to hasten both sides to effectively implement cooperation in culture, education and tourism, and increase the frequency and improve the quality of locality-to-locality collaboration, the Chinese Premier told his host.

The two leaders sincerely and frankly exchanged views on maritime issues, and agreed to affirm the importance of properly controlling disagreements, and maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea.

PM Chinh suggested the two sides strictly implement high-level common perceptions and the “Agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues between Vietnam and China”; respect each other’s legitimate rights and interests; settle disputes and disagreements by peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); promote the effectiveness of negotiation mechanisms on maritime issues; fully and effectively realize the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and strive to build a substantive, efficient and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, including the UNCLOS.

The two PMs also compared notes international and regional issues of mutual concern, and agreed to maintain coordination and cooperation at regional and international forums.

The Vietnamese Government chief affirmed the consistent support for the “One China” principal, and for China’s increasingly important and active role in the region and in the world.

He proposed the two sides boost coordination and cooperation at regional and international forums, especially within the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The two Government leaders then witnessed the signing and announcement of four cooperation documents between ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries in the fields of immigration management, market supervision, smart border gate construction, and research on marine environmental management in the Gulf of Tonkin.