Vietnam visit by China’s top leader exceeds expectations: Chinese scholar

The freshly-ended state visit to Vietnam by China's Party General Secretary and President Xi Jinping has been hailed as an overwhelming success, yielding the most substantial outcomes to date among trips by Chinese leaders to the Southeast Asian country, said a Chinese expert.

Interviewed by Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Beijing, Prof. Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), praised the warm and respectful reception given by Vietnam to the high-ranking guest, calling it a reflection of the strong friendship the Vietnamese people hold for China.

Xu noted that it marked Xi’s fourth trip to Vietnam in his capacity as China’s top leader, and his second during the tenures of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

According to the scholar, the trip helped strengthen high-level exchanges between the two Party and State leaders, demonstrating the strategic guidance at the core of bilateral relations.

On Party-to-Party cooperation, he noted that agreements signed during the visit cover content on sharing governance and policymaking experiences. China has extended an invitation to Vietnamese youth to participate in the "red journey" study and research program, aimed at deepening mutual understanding and people-to-people bonds, especially between the younger generations. Chinese youth, in turn, will also be encouraged to visit Vietnam, for exchanges, reinforcing the revolutionary traditions shared by both countries.

The trip culminated in the signing of 45 wide-ranging cooperation agreements, spanning not only infrastructure and rail connectivity, but also emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, human resources training, customs facilitation, digital economy, and green development.

A fresh outcome, according to Xu, was the sides’ agreement to launch the Vietnam-China railway cooperation mechanism. He said fully leveraging the Vietnam-China joint railway committee is necessary to carry out the overall coordination serving smooth and effective operations.

According to him, once operational, the railway line is expected to bring about significant benefits not only for China and Vietnam but for the wider region, while boosting people-to-people exchanges. In the future, the high-speed connection could eventually enable Chinese tourists to travel directly to Vietnam by train and continue onwards to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The professor also pointed out that Vietnam’s strategic position on the Indochinese Peninsula would be further elevated once the high-speed rail is operational. Travellers from Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore heading to China may opt to pass through Vietnam, while regional goods are also likely to be routed via the country, making it a strategic link in the trans-Asia-Europe logistics network.