Vietnam leader to meet with Xi, calming waters of South China Sea

The upcoming visit to China by Vietnam's ruling party chief will send a strong signal of stabilizing the South China Sea situation this year and help manage maritime problems, observers said.

Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, will make an official visit to China from Thursday to Sunday, the Communist Party of China's International Department announced on Sunday.

The trip will be Trong's first to China since his re-election as Vietnam's Communist Party chief in January last year. Trong and his counterpart Xi Jinping last exchanged visits in 2015.

His second visit to Beijing as party chief comes amid expanding bilateral cooperation in trade and production capacity, as well as concerns about potential uncertainties in the region brought on by the coming change of administrations in Washington.

Beijing is ready to "strengthen strategic communication, reinforce political mutual trust and deepen pragmatic cooperation", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said of the visit during a regular news conference in Beijing on Monday.

Party and State leaders will meet with Trong to exchange views on issues regarding the bilateral relationship and common concerns.

Lu added that Trong will also visit some local places, but he did not elaborate.

Party-to-party diplomacy, especially the meeting of party chiefs, has shaped China-Vietnam diplomacy and helped steer bilateral ties out of a low point triggered by maritime problems in recent years, observers said.

Li Jinming, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Xiamen University, said high-level political contacts have "geared up and shown good signs" in the past six months, such as top legislator Zhang Dejiang's trip to Vietnam in November.

"Trong's visit is an action aiming at further easing ties with Beijing," and party-to-party diplomacy is effective in boosting communication between Beijing and Hanoi, Li said.

China should grab the chance and serve as a greater catalyst of Vietnam's sluggish economy at a time that the Belt and Road initiative and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have won positive feedback in Southeast Asian countries, Li added.

Nie Huihui, a researcher of Vietnam studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that past meetings between Xi and Trong have proved a success, and the upcoming talks will "help chart courses on a strategic height on key agenda items between the two parties and the two countries".

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn