Vietnamese President To Lam. File | Photo credit: Reuters
China said Vietnamese President To Lam will arrive on a three-day visit starting Sunday, his first foreign trip since being formally designated as his country’s top leader.
“Vietnamese President To Lam will pay a state visit to China from August 18 to 20,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement on Thursday, adding that he had been invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China and Vietnam vowed to further deepen bilateral ties when Mr Xi Jinping visited Vietnam last December. This was Mr Jinping’s first visit to Vietnam in six years.
The visit comes after Vietnam and the United States upgraded diplomatic ties during US President Joe Biden’s visit in September.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Mr Lam would now meet Mr Xi, Premier Li Keqiang and other officials, a sign of “the high importance attached to the development of relations between the two parties and countries”.
Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach, striving to maintain good relations with both China and the United States.
He shares US concerns about Beijing’s growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea, but also has close economic ties with China.
The visit comes at a time of heightened tensions following a series of confrontations between the Philippines and China over the disputed Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoals in the South China Sea.
Vietnam, along with Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, also has claims in the South China Sea, most of which is claimed by China.
China hopes the visit will help the two sides “deepen the building of a China-Vietnam community with a shared future” and “make positive contributions to regional and world peace, stability and development.”
Vietnam and China, both governed by communist parties, already have a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” Vietnam’s highest diplomatic status.