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CHINESE President Xi Jinping began a state visit to Vietnam yesterday that was hailed as a “new step forward” in bilateral relations.
Mr Xi flew from the Vietnamese city of Da Nang, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, to the capital Hanoi.
He was welcomed by Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
China’s ambassador to Vietnam Hong Xiaoyong said the two leaders would have “in-depth talks on promoting the relations between the two countries under the new circumstances.”
It was Mr Xi’s first overseas trip since his re-election as general secretary at the Communist Party of China’s 19th congress last month.
Mr Trong and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang visited Beijing earlier this year.
Tran Viet Thai of the Vietnam Diplomatic Academy commented: “The visit marks a new step forward in Vietnam-China relations.”
In Da Nang, Mri Quang said he wanted to settle the long-running six-nation territorial dispute in the South China Sea islands.
"It's our policy to settle disputes in the East Sea through peaceful negotiations and with respect for diplomatic and legal process in accordance with international law,” he said, referring to the South China Sea, “including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Between 1979 and 1990, China and Vietnam fought a series of wars over the Spratly and Paracel islands.
Mr Quang was speaking at his second press conference that day with his US counterpart Donald Trump, who had earlier offered to mediate in the dispute.
“I’m a very good mediator and arbitrator,” bragged Mr Trump, who was welcomed to Beijing by Mr Xi last week.
However, China has rejected previous offers of mediation in the dispute from the US, whose forces have made repeated military incursions into Chinese territorial waters and air space.
On Saturday, Mr Xi held meetings with Pacific Rim regional leaders, including Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Mr Xi called for the alignment of the two countries’ major infrastructure and trade plans — China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Vietnam’s Two Corridors and One Economic Circle scheme — to be accelerated.
