Hanoi, (VNA) ☂– General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and President of China Xi Jinping on November 6 addressed the 10th session of the 13th National Assembly in Hanoi, highlighting the need to maintain the countries’ time-honoured friendship.

Chinese and Vietnamese people walked hand-in-hand during their countries’ past struggles for national independence and liberation, while helping each other in their current socialist construction endeavours, he said. Their ties have gone beyond a normal bilateral relationship and become a strategic relationship with significant importance, Xi stated. Expressing delight at achievements that Vietnam has gained during its reform process, he said he believes that under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the Vietnamese people will reap great success in the future. He pledged that his country will join Vietnam’s efforts to continue maintaining the bilateral friendship, learning from each other and working for the progress of socialism and the happiness of both peoples. The Chinese leader said that currently, the CPC is promoting socialism with Chinese characteristics and striving for a comprehensive prosperous society and a modernised socialist country with prosperity, democracy, civilisation and harmony. The CPC Central Committee recently convened its fifth session to build a socio-economic development plan for the next five years, with an aim to improve people’s living conditions and contribute to peace and progress, Xi noted. During CPV General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China last April, the two sides agreed that the bilateral friendship, formed by President Mao Zedong and President Ho Chi Minh as well as other former leaders of both countries, is a precious treasure that needs maintenance, he said. He held that China and Vietnam share a wide range of common interests, with cooperation a major trend. Both sides need to respect each other while properly settling disputes through friendly talks. Regarding rapid developments in the region and the world that have brought about new challenges to both countries, Xi stated that Vietnam and China share attached interests and common development goals. China pays great attention to developing ties with Vietnam and is willing to work with the neighbouring country to maintain a friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive cooperation with long-term stability towards the future in the spirit of “good neighbours, good friends, good comrades and good partners”, thus promoting the stable and healthy development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and bringing greater benefits to both peoples, Xi affirmed. China resolutely supports Vietnam’s cause of “doi moi” (reform) and sincerely hopes that the country will reap more significant achievements in its socialist building, he said, adding that the two sides will continue to support each other and make active contributions to socialist development. He said his country shares experience with Vietnam in national building and management, as well as developing a theoretical and practical basis for socialist construction. China backs Vietnam to promote its increasing role in the regional and international arenas, while enhancing cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation in regional and global mechanisms for mutual benefit and development. The top Chinese leader stated that his country attaches great importance to the two countries’ cooperation strategies within the “two corridors and one economic belt” framework, along with embracing infrastructure connectivity and collaboration in investment and bettering production capacity to elevate the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new height. He urged the two sides to stay persistent and concentrate on the overall bilateral relations, via friendly and peaceful negotiations, to curb any disagreements in a satisfactory manner. The Chinese Party chief and President expressed his belief that under the sound leadership of the two Parties and States, the two countries’ people will be able to remove any obstacles and continue to write a new page in the Vietnam-China friendly, neighbourly cooperation. Noting with pleasure that the number of tourist between the two sides surpasses 3 million per year and currently nearly 14,000 Vietnamese students are pursuing their education in China, he proposed Vietnam and China work together on culture, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, in order to increase mutual understanding and tighten their amity. Xi said he hopes the two countries will join hands to develop their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and around the globe. On behalf of the National Assembly of Vietnam, Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung thanked the top Chinese leader for his speech on the bilateral traditional friendship, Vietnamese land, people and achievements in the reform period initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam. He wished the Chinese people would successfully implement national construction targets under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. In celebration of the 65 th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties this year, the two countries are glad to realise that despites ups and downs, their relations have been growing according to the spirit of late Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong – peace, friendship and cooperation, he noted. The countries will continually control disagreements and overcome obstacles for the healthy, practical and steady development of bilateral relations for the sake of the two peoples as well as peace and prosperity in the region and the world, he said. He added that the Vietnamese people always remember the valuable assistance from the Chinese Party, Government and people during their past resistance wars and in the current national construction and defence. The two nations’ solidarity, brotherhood and cooperation not only significantly contribute to the respective revolutionary causes and national construction, but also to social progress, peace and independence. The National Assembly of Vietnam will spare no efforts to work with the National People’s Congress of China to reinforce and propel the bilateral friendship forward, Chairman Hung stressed.-VNA