China's President Xi Jinping attends the Leaders Retreat at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, California, United States, on November 17, 2023. Portal/Carlos Barria/File Photo acquire license rights
- Xi makes his first trip to Vietnam in six years
- China wants to strengthen relations with Hanoi
- Possible deals on railways, digital infrastructure, rare earths
HANOI, Dec 12 (Portal) – China's President Xi Jinping begins a two-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday to improve ties between the communist countries three months after U.S. President Joe Biden's trip to Hanoi as major powers jockey for influence in the southeast compete Asian nation.
Xi's first trip to Vietnam in six years was months in the planning and was even briefly considered days before Biden's visit, officials said.
Despite very close economic ties, neighbors in the South China Sea disagree over borders and have a history of conflict stretching back thousands of years.
“The future of Asia lies in the hands of no one but Asians,” Xi said in an opinion piece published in the Vietnamese Communist Party newspaper ahead of his visit.
A “community with a shared future” between the two countries would have strategic importance, he added, while warning against increasing “hegemonism” in the world, an apparent reference to the United States that he did not name.
Xi's visit was also delayed due to lengthy discussions over the use of the phrase “common future,” which was favored by Beijing to describe relations between the two sides but which Hanoi initially resisted, officials and diplomats said.
“DOZENS” OFFERINGS
Aside from raising ties to a level Beijing may see as above that with the United States, an upgrade in status would come with the signing of “dozens of cooperation documents,” Vietnamese state newspaper Tuoi Tre quoted Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo as saying before Xi's visit.
The deals are expected to include Chinese investments to modernize rail links between the neighbors, including grants, although the size and terms of possible loans are unclear.
By improving transport connectivity, Vietnam could export more to China, particularly agricultural products, while Beijing seeks to further integrate the country's north into its southern supply chain networks.
Chinese companies have moved some operations to Vietnam more quickly this year than before the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking to be closer to Western customers, reduce risks from U.S.-China trade tensions and exposure to China's weakened economy to reduce.
Stronger rail networks would speed up the import of components from China for assembly in Vietnam and effectively expand China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In his editorial, Xi called for faster cooperation in building infrastructure.
China has pushed to include Vietnam in its Digital Silk Road, potentially bringing investments in new undersea fiber optic cables, the 5G network and other telecommunications infrastructure.
Although the Hanoi subway is Vietnam's only project to receive BRI loans, it was built in a country where anti-Chinese sentiment is still so widespread that such moves could be seen as too close to Beijing , not marked as such.
Xi called for broader cooperation in security, connectivity, green energy and critical minerals, referring to rare earths, of which China is the world's top refiner while Vietnam has the second-largest estimated reserves after its neighbor.
Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Additional reporting by Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Edited by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez
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