Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday with a promise to prioritize relations and improve trade ties with Vietnam amid recent differences over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Vietnam has been working to balance geopolitical rivalries with a desire to advance its economy.
Xi’s two-day official visit comes three months after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi and several weeks after Japan’s prime minister met with top officials in Vietnam’s capital.
Xi was met by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at Hanoi’s airport at the start of his first trip to Vietnam in six years. He was also scheduled to hold talks with Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Tron and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
"A close neighbor is better than a distant relative," Xi wrote on Tuesday in a signed article printed in Vietnam's official Nhan Dan Newspaper.
“Hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise,” he wrote. “Peace and development in the region are confronted with fairly grave challenges of instability and uncertainty.”
The neighboring countries announced 37 deals on Tuesday, including agreements on railways and telecommunications, according to Reuters. China is Vietnam’s largest trade partner.
‘China’s orbit’
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid the groundwork for Xi's visit with a trip to Hanoi on Nov. 30 to discuss trade and investment cooperation.
Two days before Wang's visit, Vietnam and Japan agreed to cooperate more closely on security issues and work together on defense equipment and technology transfers as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the two countries were officially upgrading relations to a "comprehensive strategic partnership."
In September, Biden also announced that the United States was upgrading its relationship with Vietnam. The two countries pledged to work together on semiconductors, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
“Xi’s visit is to say that Vietnam has not escaped China’s orbit just yet,” Huong Le Thu, deputy director of the International Crisis Group’s Asia program, told The New York Times.
China has already mapped out a number of projects if Vietnam were to eventually agree to take part in its Belt and Road Initiative, including railway routes from the northern provinces to Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong.
“China and Vietnam are connected by mountains and rivers,” Xi wrote in the Nhan Dan Newspaper. “We enjoy cultural proximity, cherish the same ideals, and have a shared future ahead of us.
Edited by Matt Reed.