Vietnam and China Strive to Establish A New Height for Economic and Trade Cooperation
At the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping and his spouse, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam To Lam and his spouse, together with a high-level delegation of Vietnam, are paying a State visit to China from April 14 to April 17, 2026.
In recent times, Vietnam–China relations have maintained positive development momentum, with clear and relatively comprehensive progress. Political trust between the two sides has been consolidated and strengthened, continuing to play a strategic guiding role in steering bilateral relations across various fields. High-level and multi-level exchanges and visits have been vibrant. Cooperation in diplomacy, defense, and security has recorded notable achievements and substantive progress.
On the afternoon of April 15, within the framework of the State visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, General Secretary and President To Lam held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Premier Li warmly congratulated Comrade To Lam on his election as President; expressed appreciation and welcomed General Secretary and President To Lam on his first State visit to China in his capacity as Vietnam’s top leader, demonstrating the high importance and top priority that the Party and State of Vietnam attach to Vietnam–China relations. He expressed confidence that the visit would inject strong momentum, guiding and orienting the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and the Vietnam–China Community with a Shared Future of strategic significance for long-term development.
Vietnam sincerely wishes and is determined to work with China to promote the comprehensive development of bilateral relations to a new height, in which substantive, mutually beneficial cooperation across all fields commensurate with the relationship serves as the material foundation and a strong driving force for the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of relations between the two Parties and the two countries in the new period.
In an atmosphere of friendship, openness, and trust, General Secretary and President To Lam and Premier Li Qiang reviewed the outstanding achievements in bilateral cooperation in recent years; expressed satisfaction and agreed that relations between the two Parties and two countries have maintained very positive momentum, especially substantive cooperation in economic, trade, investment, tourism, and railway connectivity, which has grown strongly and achieved new qualitative breakthroughs, forming an unprecedentedly dynamic landscape of exchanges and cooperation among sectors, levels, and localities of both countries.
General Secretary and President To Lam proposed that both sides strive to establish a new height for economic, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation; strengthen more balanced and sustainable trade cooperation; promote sustainable economic linkages; create breakthroughs in strategic infrastructure connectivity, giving the highest priority to railway cooperation; enhance connectivity with Central Asia and Europe; and requested China to provide concessional financing, human resource training, and technology transfer to enable Vietnam to master the operation, maintenance, and repair of electrified railway systems. He also proposed expanding the smart border gate model and synchronously implementing cross-border economic cooperation zones in border localities.
Expressing agreement and high appreciation for the important orientations proposed by General Secretary and President To Lam, Premier Li Qiang emphasized that China attaches great importance to substantive, mutually beneficial cooperation with Vietnam; proposed that both sides prioritize the implementation of cooperation on strategic infrastructure connectivity, especially in technology, human resource training, and capital mobilization in the railway sector; effectively implement standard-gauge railway projects connecting the two countries; and promote multimodal logistics connectivity.
China is ready to work with Vietnam to elevate more balanced trade cooperation, increase imports of high-quality Vietnamese agricultural products, support Vietnam’s participation in the “Sharing the Big Market – Exporting to China” initiatives, and cooperate in building cross-border economic cooperation zones.
Premier Li Qiang affirmed that China encourages the expansion of two-way investment, the development of safe and stable supply chains and production chains in the region, and supports an increasing number of capable Chinese enterprises to expand high-quality investment in Vietnam.
Regarding investment in Vietnam, as of the end of 2025, China had 6,318 valid investment projects with total registered capital of nearly USD 35 billion, ranking 6th out of 152 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. In 2025, China invested 5,698 million USD, ranking 2nd among 113 countries and territories, up 20.4% y-o-y of 2024.
Original article in Vietnamese by Vietnamplus.vn and Photos by TTXVN.
