China willing to expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Vietnam: Wang Yi

Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (R) meets with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in Jakarta, Indonesia, on July 13, 2023. [Xinhua/Xu Qin]

JAKARTA -- China is willing to consolidate strategic mutual trust and expand mutually beneficial cooperation with Vietnam, Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said here on Thursday.

At a meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son on the sidelines of a series of ASEAN foreign ministers' meetings, Wang noted that this year marks the 15th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam, and the two countries took it as an opportunity to carry out high-level exchanges intensively.

The two sides reaffirmed the importance and priority of China-Vietnam relations in their respective foreign policies and emphasized the need to strengthen the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road, so as to enrich the China-Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new situation, he said.

China is willing to work with the Vietnamese side to strengthen strategic communication, consolidate strategic mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, promote people-to-people exchanges, so that people of the two countries, especially the younger generation, would be more involved in China-Vietnam friendship and cooperation, said the senior Chinese diplomat.

Wang said China and Vietnam are both communist-led socialist countries with the same political orientation, highly complementary economies and broad prospects for cooperation.

The two sides should join hands to follow their respective modernization paths, strengthen the synergy of development strategies and enhance cooperation, Wang said.

China is willing to import more Vietnamese products and encourages the Vietnamese side to actively participate in the China-ASEAN Expo and the China International Import Expo (CIIE), he said.

Wang emphasized that the two sides should implement the important consensus on the proper handling of maritime issues reached by top leaders of the two parties.

China is willing to work with ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, including Vietnam, to promote the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).

For his part, Son said his country appreciates the development of bilateral ties and looks forward to further enhancing high-level exchanges to implement the important consensus between leaders of both parties.

Pledging efforts for joint construction of the Belt and Road and promotion of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, he said Vietnam expects expanded exports to China, active participation in the China-ASEAN Expo and the CIIE, and proper handling of maritime issues.

The two sides agreed to work together to guard against disturbances and push the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level.