Xi's Vietnam trip to chart a new course of bilateral growth and regional stability

Editor's note: Azhar Azam, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, works in a private organization as a market and business analyst and writes about geopolitical issues and regional conflicts. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, in a notable demonstration of Hanoi's special relationship with Beijing, last year became the first foreign leader to visit China after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Now Chinese President Xi Jinping is repaying the favor and arrived in Vietnam for a two-day state visit on Tuesday.

Exchanges between the Chinese and Vietnamese can be traced back to over 1,000 years ago, during which they coexisted peacefully as neighbors. Since the establishment of their formal diplomatic relationship in 1950, Beijing and Hanoi have generally maintained a strong relationship. These strong ties endured a brief interruption, before ties were resumed in 1991.

From then onward, the partnership has been booming as Hanoi in 1998 adopted and adheres to a "Three Nos" defense policy: no military alliances, no siding with one country against another and no foreign military bases on its soil. Signing a land border treaty, demarcating the border and other cooperation agreements transformed the Chinese-Vietnamese border into a boundary of peace, stability and development, injecting a new impetus in the bilateral relationship. Both sides remain committed to maintaining peace and stability at sea.

China and Vietnam officially entered into a comprehensive cooperative strategic partnership in 2008; they have been informally tied in a high-level partnership since 1999 when top leaders of the two countries reached consensus that they should be "good neighbors, good friends, good comrades and good partners." Xi's visit follows a series of high-level visits by Chinese diplomats. In their interaction, all Vietnamese leaders were upbeat about their country's relationship with China, which was considered as "a strategic choice and a top priority" in the Southeast Asian country's foreign policy of independence.

In his visit to Vietnam, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed enhancing strategic connectivity between the Belt and Road Initiative countries. The BRI has been commended in Vietnam for its potential to deliver public goods within Vietnam's "Two Corridors, One Belt" framework. With him and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son lauding stable development in the strategic partnership, this historic relationship after Xi's trip will be on the cusp of bringing sound economic progress and delivering more stability to the region.

Beijing is Hanoi's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade, according to Vietnamese data, is on course to leapfrog its 2022 total of $175 billion and has already hit $140 billion in the first 10 months of 2023. This, as well as an estimated $26 billion of Chinese investment, preferential loans and non-refundable aid to Vietnam are contributing to socio-economic development and playing a key role in building infrastructure, reducing poverty, generating jobs and boosting the economy in the country.

During Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Beijing in June, the leaders agreed to continue implementing their joint statement about deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership, maintaining high-level exchanges, promoting party-to-party, government-to-government and parliamentary exchanges, limiting disagreements and fostering maritime cooperation. 

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and CPV have been exchanging experiences on party building to fast-track their national development. Hanoi admires the CPC's achievements and seeks to adopt its governance and economic model to combat corruption and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country.

A consensus between Xi and Trong in October 2022 on sharing party-building experiences to improve national governance and prevent and control corruption has the potential to boost the Vietnamese government's ability to administer the country in addition to delivering benefits to the people, accelerating economic growth and emerging as an important FDI destination.

Xi's visit comes just three months after U.S. President Joe Biden upgraded America's relationship with Vietnam to a comprehensive strategic partnership. Yet it's largely an effort to exploit Hanoi's position in Asia-Pacific to intensify his strategic competition with China.

While geopolitical consequences of this new development shouldn't be overstated, Vietnam will not pursue such alignment for its leaders often describe their relationship with China as one of "comrades and brothers," an enthusiasm often lacking in the U.S.-Vietnam relationship. A U.S.-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership is also a moot point due to the far-reaching implications it would have on the geopolitical landscape, economy and stability of Asia-Pacific, particularly Southeast Asia.

Before the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting, Hanoi sought to address existing economic and security challenges and strengthen dialogue and cooperation, reminding the APEC leaders that they 30 years ago had agreed on a joint vision of bringing peace, security and prosperity to the people of the Asia-Pacific.

This and Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong's remarks at the forum – "the global economy is facing a new wave of protectionism and other challenges stemming from… geopolitical tensions" – indicate Hanoi is wary of making itself a theater of America's self-provoked strategic rivalry with China and doesn't want to trade peace and development for geopolitics.

With leaders of the two countries looking to build on shared historical similarities and showing determination to deepen collaboration on economy, governance and regional peace, Xi's visit marks a significant milestone in strengthening the longstanding strategic partnership to jointly counter the geopolitical threats and chart a new course for bilateral economic growth and regional stability.

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