China and Vietnam need to work together to “fight unilateral bullying”, President Xi Jinping said in Hanoi on the first stop of his Southeast Asia tour, which aims to stabilise neighbourhood ties amid the disruptions caused by the Donald Trump administration.
During his meeting on Monday with President To Lam – who is also the Vietnamese Communist Party’s general secretary – Xi said both countries had benefited from economic globalisation, according to a readout from the Chinese foreign ministry.
The two neighbours should now join hands to safeguard global free trade and maintain the stability of supply chains, Xi added. “Isolated small boats cannot withstand stormy waves. Only by working together on the same boat can we sail steady and far.”
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
Also on Monday, Xi met Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, telling him that China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic cooperation and communication and “jointly oppose hegemonism, unilateralism and protectionism”.
“[The two sides] should firmly uphold the multilateral trading system and jointly promote the development of economic globalisation in a more open, inclusive, equitable and balanced direction,” Xi said.
The Chinese leader’s state visit to Hanoi coincided with Trump’s 90-day pause on heavy tariffs for countries like Vietnam, while the bitter trade war between Beijing and Washington shows no sign of easing.
In response to pressure from Washington, Hanoi has said it will tighten controls on some of its trade with China – Vietnam’s largest trading partner and one of its biggest foreign investors.
Vietnam has become an important link in the international supply chain in recent years, as a destination for manufacturing capacity as it has moved out of China, as well as a key route for Chinese exports headed for the United States.
Xi, who also leads China’s ruling Communist Party, and his Vietnamese counterpart Lam witnessed the signing of dozens of agreements, including deals aimed at improving supply chains and railway cooperation between the two countries.
The Chinese leader praised the friendship of “comrades and brothers” between the two ruling parties and urged an acceleration in the building of a “China-Vietnam community of shared destiny with strategic significance”.
Xi proposed six measures to deepen the relationship, including more leadership exchanges and an upgrading of security and law enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
He also suggested an expansion of economic ties, and deeper bonding through more people-to-people links, as well as a boost to China-Vietnam coordination in multilateral platforms.
Lastly, Xi proposed that the two countries work on improving benign maritime interactions – a reference to the unresolved and long-standing thorny disputes in the South China Sea.
“[We] should properly handle maritime issues, expand maritime cooperation, resolutely initiate joint development, and promote the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea,” Xi said.
Both countries have extensive claims in the resource-rich waters, which are subject to a number of competing and sometimes overlapping assertions of sovereignty from other claimants, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.
Disagreements in the South China Sea between Hanoi and Beijing spilled over into military clashes in 1974 and 1988. There are still occasional disputes over oil and gas development or fishery rights.
During his meeting with Xi, Lam repeated the line from his visit to Beijing in August last year, according to the readout – that developing relations with China was Vietnam’s “objective requirement, strategic choice and first priority”.
“Vietnam is willing to increase coordination and cooperation with China, uphold multilateralism ... and maintain international trade rules,” he said, adding that Hanoi would like to “properly handle maritime differences” with Beijing and maintain maritime stability.
Xi’s next stops on his Southeast Asian tour, which lasts until Friday, are Malaysia and Cambodia.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Trump says China’s talks with Vietnam are probably intended to ‘screw’ US
- Is Trump’s tariff chaos encouraging China’s push for closer neighbourhood ties?
- Xi Jinping arrives in Vietnam to boost political, trade ties amid US tariffs
- China never backs down when faced with ‘unreasonable’ behaviour, Xi Jinping warns
For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
Save 30% for ads-free and full access now!
