Vietnam, China pledge to upgrade pragmatic cooperation

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Hanoi on Monday, with both sides expressing willingness to upgrade bilateral pragmatic cooperation.

Vietnam welcomes China growing strong and making important contributions to the regional and global peace and stability, said Trong. He spoke highly of the successful state visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping to Vietnam in November last year.

As bilateral relations keeping a positive development trend, Vietnam supports China's Belt and Road Initiative and stands ready to push for closer synergy between the Chinese initiative and Vietnam's "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" plan so as to promote bilateral pragmatic cooperation, he said.

Trong called on Vietnam and China to properly handle the maritime issues existing between the two countries through friendly consultations. As a transitional method, the two sides can explore joint development and joint safeguarding maritime peace and stability, he suggested.

For his part, Wang said the important strategic consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries has been turning into a strong driving force for the positive growth of China-Vietnam relations.

China is willing to join hands with Vietnam to further implement the important achievements from the state visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November last year, consolidate and advance the friendly cooperation between the two countries, and become real actions of all walks of life in the two countries to boost the comprehensive strategic cooperation, Wang said.

The two sides should seize the opportunity to push forward the alignment of China's Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam's "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" plan, and explore new potentials for cooperation in a bid to upgrade the scale and quality of bilateral pragmatic cooperation, he suggested.

China is willing to work with Vietnam to properly manage and control disputes, explore joint development as well as improve and consolidate the public opinion foundation on boosting bilateral ties, so as to ensure Sino-Vietnamese relations always being on the right track, Wang said.

The Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister attended the sixth summit of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Economic Cooperation and paid an official visit to Vietnam from Friday to Monday. During his visit, he also met with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh.