Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh: General Secretary, President To Lam's state visit to China holds profound strategic significance
WVR - Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh emphasised that the state visit to China by General Secretary, President To Lam holds profound strategic significance for the future development of relations between the two Parties and countries.
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This is the assertion made by Vietnam's Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh in an interview with The World & Vietnam Report on the occasion of the upcoming state visit to China by General Secretary, President To Lam, scheduled from April 14-17, 2026.
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| Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh. (Source: Vietnam Embassy in China) |
The upcoming state visit to China by General Secretary, President To Lam takes place exactly one year after the state visit to Vietnam by China's General Secretary, President Xi Jinping. Could you please elaborate on the significance and expectations of this visit?
At the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping and his spouse, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam To Lam and his spouse will pay a state visit to the People's Republic of China from April 14-17, 2026.
This visit by General Secretary, President To Lam is historically significant and can be considered the most important bilateral diplomatic activity between the two Parties and countries of Vietnam and China in 2026.
This is the first overseas visit by General Secretary, President To Lam following Vietnam's consolidation of state leadership positions at the First Session of the 16th National Assembly; the first visit to China by the General Secretary, President after the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam; and a significant high-level diplomatic activity following the historic visits of senior leaders of the two Parties and countries in recent times, taking place exactly one year after the state visit to Vietnam by China's General Secretary, President Xi Jinping.
The visit occurs in the context of Vietnam-China relations maintaining a favourable development trajectory, with new, clear, and comprehensive advancements, and numerous highlights in cooperation. Notably, the highest leaders of the two Parties had an important phone call at the end of January 2026, and both sides successfully organized the 17th Meeting of the Vietnam-China Steering Committee for Bilateral Cooperation and the first Ministerial-level 3+3 Strategic Dialogue Mechanism on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Public Security in March 2026.
The common understandings reached between the leaders of the two countries during this visit will have a profound strategic orientation for the future development of relations between the two Parties and countries.
The visit is expected to create additional momentum, open up new cooperation opportunities, and further develop the relations between the two Parties and countries in a stable, healthy, and sustainable manner, for the benefit of the peoples of both countries, and for peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.
I believe that this visit will mark a new milestone, opening a new phase of development for the strategic neighborly relations, comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and shared future community between Vietnam and China.
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| General Secretary To Lam and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Public Security of Vietnam and China during the first 3+3 Strategic Dialogue. (Source: VNA) |
Could you share the key focuses of the visit?
Given the special significance and importance of the visit, both sides are highly committed and are actively arranging and preparing meticulously and effectively in terms of both schedule and content.
With a very tight and dense working schedule, General Secretary, President To Lam will hold important talks with General Secretary, President Xi Jinping and meet with other high-ranking leaders of China.
Both sides are expected to reaffirm the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between the two socialist countries with deep strategic ties; and to delve into major directions and measures to bring bilateral relations into a new, stable, and more sustainable development phase, further elevating the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and shared future community between Vietnam and China.
In the context of many regional and global changes, the visit is also an opportunity for both sides to engage in deep and substantive exchanges in a frank, sincere, and open spirit on regional and international issues of mutual concern, enhance coordination at multilateral mechanisms, appropriately address existing issues, and contribute to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
During the visit, the two General Secretaries, Presidents will also meet and speak with representatives of the youth from both countries participating in the "Red Journey of Youth Study and Research" program initiated by the two leaders in April 2025.
General Secretary, President To Lam will also deliver a policy speech at Tsinghua University, meet with some relatives of friendship figures from both countries, and participate in or announce the launch of several people-to-people exchange programs, cultural and artistic cooperation, and tourism initiatives.
These activities are of great importance in enhancing mutual understanding, promoting cultural exchanges, especially among the youth of the two countries, and contributing to solidifying the social foundation for Vietnam-China relations in the "six more" direction.
To promote substantive cooperation, share, and learn from each other's experiences in areas where both countries are focusing on development and where China has significant strengths and potential, in addition to witnessing the signing of cooperation documents, during the visit, General Secretary, President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation are expected to conduct surveys and explore pilot models of new urban areas, railway infrastructure, AI research and application facilities, and innovation in Beijing, Hebei, and Guangxi.
These practical surveys will contribute to promoting specific cooperation between ministries, sectors, localities, and enterprises of the two countries, thereby gradually concretizing high-level common understandings and signed agreements into specific projects and cooperation programs, bringing tangible benefits to the development of each country and to Vietnam-China relations.
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| High-ranking leaders of the two Parties and countries of Vietnam and China and delegates launch the Vietnam-China Youth Study and Research Journey project. (Source: Nhan Dan Newspaper) |
In recent times, substantive cooperation between the two countries has developed strongly with many strategic and new highlights. Could you share about the substantive cooperation achievements between the two countries and some important cooperation directions between Vietnam and China in the context of Vietnam implementing the 14th Party Congress Resolution and China implementing the 15th Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2026-2030?
Substantive cooperation between the two countries in recent times continues to be a prominent highlight, going deeper and improving in quality and effectiveness.
Firstly, trade, investment, and tourism cooperation between the two countries maintains strong growth momentum with double-digit increases.
In terms of trade, in 2025, China was Vietnam's largest trading partner, while Vietnam was China's fourth-largest trading partner globally, with bilateral trade reaching USD 256.4 billion, up 24.8%, and continuing to maintain positive growth in the first two months of 2026, reaching USD 42.9 billion, up 36.9%.
Regarding investment, in 2025, China was the second-largest investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of USD 5.7 billion, up 20.4%, leading in the number of new projects, and maintaining a relatively high level in the first two months of 2026, reaching USD 807.5 million.
In terms of tourism, China was Vietnam's largest source market for tourists in 2025 with 5.28 million arrivals, up 41.3%, and in the first two months of 2026, reaching over 922,000 arrivals.
Secondly, cooperation in strategic connectivity, especially the three standard-gauge railway lines, has made substantive progress.
Both sides are coordinating to soon complete the feasibility report of the Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong railway line, aiming for comprehensive construction in 2026, while actively planning the Lang Son – Hanoi and Mong Cai – Ha Long – Hai Phong lines. Additionally, both sides are enhancing digital infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, and logistics connectivity.
Thirdly, cooperation between localities, especially border provinces, is progressing favorably.
The meeting between the Party Secretaries of six provinces/regions and cities between Guangxi and Vietnam on February 11, 2026, achieved many specific results, creating momentum to promote more comprehensive and in-depth cooperation between the two sides.
Fourthly, cooperation is expanding into scientific and technological fields such as startups and innovation, AI, digital technology, and high-tech agriculture. Both sides are implementing AI application projects between localities, launching a joint innovation center in Vietnam, as well as numerous clean energy, digital infrastructure, and information technology projects.
Fifthly, cooperation between the two countries in fields such as culture, education, healthcare, and sports has also achieved many specific results.
The Vietnam-China Year of Humanistic Exchange 2025 was actively implemented, highlighted by the "Red Journey: Youth Study and Research" activity, contributing to strengthening a "stronger social foundation" for bilateral relations.
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| The Huu Nghi-Chi Lang Expressway, creating a strategic transportation corridor connecting the Northeast region, facilitating goods circulation across the Vietnam-China border, and promoting economic development in the border trade area. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
In the future, I believe that the space and potential for cooperation between the two sides remain vast, with complementary and similar development strategies, especially as Vietnam embarks on implementing the 14th Party Congress Resolution and China implements the 15th Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2026-2030.
Firstly, promoting economic connectivity between Vietnam and China and coordinating responses to external changes, contributing to laying the foundation for each side's development, supporting Vietnam's double-digit growth target.
Effectively utilizing free trade agreements, enhancing institutional, standard, and procedural connectivity, continuing to promote the opening of the Chinese market for Vietnamese agricultural products, facilitating balanced bilateral trade development; attracting high-quality investment; effectively implementing tourism cooperation programs between Vietnam and China.
Secondly, promoting more effective connectivity between regional development plans, strategic infrastructure development, supply chains, and economic and logistics corridors, focusing on implementing the three standard-gauge railway lines, smart border gates, and cross-border economic cooperation models to create open and sustainable development space for both sides.
Thirdly, enhancing cooperation in key areas for the new growth model such as science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, clean energy, high-quality agriculture, education and training, and high-quality human resource development. This will contribute to accelerating the industrial modernization process, strongly developing the digital economy, green economy, knowledge economy, and opening up to high-level international integration with high quality.
