Xi Asks Vietnam to Stop Outsider Efforts to ‘Mess Up’ Region

Zibang Xiao
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped his first visit to Vietnam in six years by calling on the Southeast Asian country to stop external forces from causing problems in the Asia-Pacific.

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“Both sides should be alert to and oppose any attempts to mess up Asia-Pacific,” Xi said on Wednesday, in comments likely to be seen as a veiled reference to the US. China’s most-powerful leader since Mao Zedong also called for the two Communist neighbors to strengthen their coordination in international affairs.

Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong declared relations had never been more “comprehensive, profound and friendly,” at the close of Xi’s two-day state visit. Both sides described the visit as a milestone in bilateral relations.

Xi’s trip came just three months after US President Joe Biden declared “enormous” opportunity with Vietnam, on his first jaunt to the Asian nation. That trip yielded agreements on everything from semiconductors to security, as part of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at checking China’s influence in the region.

China dangled its own economic carrots. Beijing pledged to fund a cross-border railway, while both sides agreed on a three-year plan to boost trade.

The show of unity is the latest example of how Hanoi is carefully balancing ties with the world’s largest economies. Vietnam is one of the biggest winners in Beijing’s trade tensions with Washington, as businesses move billions of dollars of investment away from China to the manufacturing powerhouse to secure supply chains.

Xi should be “pleased” with the outcome of the trip, which signaled an upgrade in relations, according to Joseph Liow Chin Yong, a chair of comparative and international politics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “But we should also keep in mind that Vietnam is itself deftly managing its relations with two great powers as it advances its own interests,” he added.

Shared Future

If any tensions linger from China’s tense military history with Vietnam — they fought a brief border war in 1979 — they weren’t on display as Xi arrived in Hanoi on Tuesday.

The Chinese leader received a 21-cannon salute and was greeted at Noi Bai International Airport by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and top-ranking Communist Party officials. That contrasted with Biden’s reception by Deputy Foreign Minister.

Chinese state media provided breathless coverage of Xi’s trip to Vietnam for domestic audiences. People were shown holding banners at the airport as Xi arrived, which read “Vietnam and China have a deep relationship that’s like comrades and brothers,” and “China-Vietnam friendship will last forever.”

Xi’s decision to visit Vietnam — his sole trip to an Asian nation this year — came as China’s neighbor was seen inching closer to the US and its allies. After upgrading ties with Washington to the same level as Beijing, last month Hanoi elevated its relationship with Tokyo.

Still, Vietnam’s leaders showed that those elevated ties didn’t preclude Hanoi from joining hands with Beijing and its allies. China and Vietnam agreed to “build a community of shared future,” a slogan that refers to a Chinese Communist Party foreign policy vision that prioritizes helping Asian neighbors to ensure their collective development.

The two nations, which have overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, also pledged to “control” disagreements and avoid “actions that can complicate the situation and expand disputes,” according to a joint statement. They will set up a hotline to handle “unexpected incidents” that arise from fishing activities and have “frank” discussions on maritime issues to better resolve disagreements.

Vietnam, which like China has struggled with a bumpy post-pandemic economic recovery, has reason to keep Beijing on side. Beijing is Hanoi’s top trade partner with bilateral commerce standing at $205.6 billion last year.

Xi said the agreements reached during his visit would lead to new chapters in the China-Vietnam relationship.

“It is the final trip of my foreign visits this year,” Xi told President Thuong on Wednesday, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV. “That fully demonstrates the special status of China-Vietnam relations in China’s diplomatic layout.”

--With assistance from Qianwei Zhang, Meg Short, Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen, Nguyen Xuan Quynh, Olivia Tam, Elaine To and Clarissa Batino.

(Updates the story with Nanyang university expert in the fifth paragraph and South China Sea hot-line in the seventh paragraph.)

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