President Xi to visit Vietnam, Laos

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang speaks at a conference in Beijing on November 3rd, 2017. [Photo: CCTV]

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that President Xi Jinping will attend the 25th APEC Economic Leader' Meeting in Vietnam on November 10th and 11th. 

Xi Jinping is also scheduled to pay state visits to Vietnam and Laos starting November 12. 

CRI's Guan Chao has more. 

Chinese foreign ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang has made the announcement at a news conference, saying that the trip will mark the first foreign visits of Xi Jinping and other senior Chinese leaders after the 19th CPC National Congress.

According to the foreign ministry, the visits are expected to open a new era of Chinese diplomacy, which, among other goals, aims to further enhance China's good-neighborly relationships with other countries in the region.

Lu Kang adds that China attaches great importance to regional cooperation in the Asia-Pacific and expect Xi Jinping's visits to help promote an open development trend and tap into new potential in the region.

Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to Vietnam follows visits to China earlier this year by Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang.

China's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Xiaodong says the mutual visits between top leaders of the both sides are conducive to enhancing communication. 

"Heads of the two parties and states will discuss strategic cooperation, share experiences on party and state governance and promote connections between significant development strategies. They will also aim to enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges and discuss regional and international issues of mutual concern, with the goal to lay out a new roadmap of bilateral relations in a new era."

Chen also says Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam is expected to produce concrete results. 

"During the visit, the two sides will bridge the China-proposed 'Belt and Road' Initiative and Vietnam's 'Two Corridors and One Economic Circle' plan. They are also expected to reach agreements on production capacity cooperation, infrastructure, cross-border economic zones construction and cooperation in the cultural industry."

Chen Xiaodong has also shed light on the Chinese president's visit to Laos, saying that the two sides will exchange views on promoting traditional friendships, strengthening political mutual trust and enhancing strategic communication.

"The two sides will work to build connections between the 'Belt and Road' Initiative and Laos' development strategies. They will also work on finalizing agreements in infrastructure, technology, agriculture and electricity generation."

China established diplomatic ties with Vietnam 67 years ago, while its diplomatic ties with Laos have also gone through 55 years.

According to China's Ministry of Commerce, the country has seen fast growing trade and investment in recent years with both countries and is expecting to see its trade volume with Vietnam reaching over 100 billion US dollars.

As the next steps, China has pledged more efforts to promote bilateral trade and investments, as well as the building of cross-border economic zones. 

For CRI, I'm Guan Chao.