Xi Jinping tells Vietnam it is a ‘diplomatic priority’ as he seeks to strengthen China’s ties with Hanoi

Xi also used his first visit since 2017 to urge the two countries to seek a ‘mutually beneficial’ solution to their long-running dispute in the South China Sea

The Chinese leader’s efforts to strengthen relations follow a visit to Hanoi in September by US President Joe Biden

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong pictured in Hanoi. Photo: AP

Published: 3:39pm, 12 Dec 2023Updated: 3:07am, 13 Dec 2023

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged Vietnam to help build closer ties between the two nations on his first visit to his neighbour since 2017.

During his two-day visit – which comes three months after US President Joe Biden visited Hanoi – he met Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, on Tuesday.

Xi said the two countries should jointly build a strategic China-Vietnam community with a shared future “on the basis of deepening the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic partnership”, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

“China has always viewed Sino-Vietnamese relations at a strategic level and from a long-term perspective, and has seen Vietnam as a priority in our neighbourhood diplomacy.”

He also told Trong that he believed relations would enter a new phase categorised by higher political mutual trust, deeper mutually beneficial cooperation and better management of risk and differences.

Trong was the first foreign leader to visit China after Xi secured a third term as party chief in October last year – where they pledged to take their “camaraderie plus brotherhood” relationship to a new level. Vietnam’s President Vo Van Thuong also visited China two months ago.