Xi's Vietnam visit vital beyond bilateral ties

A year after Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, paid an official visit to China immediately after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a reciprocal state visit to Vietnam on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Vietnam considers the visit to be one of the most important in a year full of foreign engagements, one that matters beyond China-Vietnam relations. As an immediate neighbor of China with immense cultural and political similarities, Vietnam has always considered its ties with China the most important and consequential its security and development, albeit its independent foreign policy is aimed at "diversifying" and strengthening its relations with other countries while remaining "self-reliant" and "a friend to all".

For Vietnam, China is not only its largest neighbor, its traditional friend, a key partner that shares a similar political system, the largest trading partner, the fourth-largest source of foreign direct investment (in 2023), a key development partner with very similar goals and aspirations, and an increasingly important source of modern technologies.