Xi meets with Vietnamese PM

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh in Beijing on Tuesday.

Noting that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, Xi said China regards Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy and is working to build a community with a shared future with Vietnam -- a strategic choice China has made based on the long-term development of bilateral relations.

Facing an increasingly severe and complex international situation, China and Vietnam should uphold the spirit of equality, mutual benefit, solidarity, mutual trust and win-win cooperation, work together for common development to bring more benefits to the two peoples, and inject more stability into the world, Xi said.

Xi described China and Vietnam -- both socialist countries -- as comrades with a high degree of mutual trust, partners pursuing win-win results, and friends who know each other well. He called on the two sides to adhere to the concept of putting people first, and firmly support each other in pursuing socialist paths that suit their own national conditions and modernization paths with their own characteristics.

The two sides should build a high-quality Belt and Road together, enhance the synergy of development strategies, leverage complementary advantages, and accelerate practical cooperation in fields such as infrastructure, smart customs and green energy, Xi said.

China is willing to import more marketable Vietnamese products and welcomes Vietnam's participation in the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the China International Import Expo in the second half of this year, Xi said.

He said the two sides should enrich people-to-people exchanges, enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples -- especially the younger generations -- and consolidate the social foundations for the development of bilateral relations.

Xi called on the two sides to jointly oppose decoupling and the severing of industrial and supply chains, and oppose politicizing economic, scientific and technological issues. He said the two countries should safeguard international fairness and justice, and their own development rights and interests.

A more just and reasonable international order should be promoted, and a peaceful and stable external environment for the modernization drive of the two countries should be created, he added.

Pham Minh Chinh said that developing long-term, stable and sound Vietnam-China relations has always been the strategic choice and top priority of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese government.

Vietnam will always remember and sincerely thanks China for the long-term, valuable assistance it has provided to Vietnam, and cherishes the relationship carefully cultivated by the older generations of leaders, Pham Minh Chinh said.

Vietnam is proud of the major innovative achievements in theory and practice made by the Communist Party of China, he said, adding that China is sure to realize Chinese modernization and build itself into a great modern socialist country under General Secretary Xi Jinping's vigorous leadership.

Vietnam firmly upholds the one-China policy, supports the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, supports China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and will continue to actively participate in the construction of the Belt and Road, he said.

Vietnam opposes the politicization of economic issues and is willing to work closely with China to guard against and combat all kinds of risks and challenges, and will never allow any force to drive a wedge between the two countries, Pham Minh Chinh said.