The official visit of Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to China, starting July 8, demonstrates the importance that Vietnam attaches to the cooperation between the two countries’ legislative bodies.
Vietnam and China set up their diplomatic ties on January 18, 1950. Since then, the two sides have maintained regular high-level visits and meetings, thus helping intensify political trust, effectively solve arising problems and develop the bilateral relations in a stable and sustainable manner.
It is noteworthy that in 2015 and 2017, the Party leaders of the two countries made mutual visits within the same year. In 2018, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met Chinese Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping on the occasion of China’s first International Import Expo in Shanghai, and met his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang twice on the sidelines of the Mekong-Lancang Summit in Cambodia and the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Belgium. In April 2019, PM Phuc attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.
The relationship between the two legislative bodies has also been strengthened over the years, with the exchange of many high-level visits in the past five years, including those made by Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in December 2015, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China Zhang Dejiang in November 2016, and Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese NA Do Ba Ty in December 2017. Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC of China Chen Zhu attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) in Hanoi in January last year.
At these high-level meetings, both countries’ leaders emphasised that the traditional friendship, nurtured by Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong and generations of leaders, is a valuable asset of both Parties, States and peoples. They all affirmed to develop the relations intensively, and continue to give each other support in the renewal and socialism building cause in each nation.
Economic cooperation continues to be a bright spot in the bilateral relations. China is currently the biggest trade partner of Vietnam, while the latter is the former’s biggest trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Two-way trade hit 106.7 billion USD in 2018, up 13.8 percent year on year. In the first four months of this year, the turnover reached 33.24 billion USD, up 11.58 percent against the same period last year.
As of late May, China had 2,387 valid investment projects totalling 15.1 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking seventh out of 131 nations and territories pouring capital in the Southeast Asian nation.
During January-April, 1.3 million Chinese tourists visited Vietnam. Each year, over 1 million Vietnamese people choose China as the destination for their holiday.
For sea-related issues, the two sides have maintained regular discussions at all-level meetings. They have signed an agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea related issues and reached numerous common perceptions on controlling disputes and maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea.
The upcoming official visit to China by the Vietnamese top legislator is expected to contribute to strengthening political trust, speeding up the implementation of common perceptions and signed agreements, and effectively carrying out agreements, programmes and projects between the Vietnamese NA and the National People’s Congress of China.
On this occasion, both sides are expected to discuss measures to boost all-round cooperation in politics, economics, security, defence and education, and to enhance cooperation at multilateral forums, and exchange views on international issues of shared concern.