Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made a phone call to Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on April 16.
Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (Source: VNA) Hanoi, (VNA) – Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made a
phone call to Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on April
16.
Son took the occasion to brief his Chinese counterpart on
Vietnam’s guideline for external relations defined at the 13th National Party Congress, under which Vietnam consistently pursues an independent foreign policy for peace, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateralization,
and comprehensive and in-depth international integration.
The FM reiterated that maintaining and developing the
traditional friendship and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership
with China is always one of the top priorities in Vietnam’s external policy.
FM Wang Yi affirmed that China attaches importance to promoting
the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with Vietnam and
congratulated Vietnam on the success of the 13th National Party
Congress and the 11th session of the 14th National Assembly,
during which the country selected a new leadership and defined socio-economic
development targets for the years ahead.
The two FMs shared the view that the two parties and countries’
relations continue to maintain a positive development trend, with regular
exchanges and contacts at all levels held in flexible forms, and economic-trade
cooperative growing despite the heavy impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two
countries have shared medical supplies and experience in fighting the pandemic,
and supported each other in times of natural disasters.
The two sides agreed to promote exchanges at high level and
other levels, and invited each other to make mutual visit at an appropriate
time for direct discussion. They also vowed to bring into full play the role of
the two Foreign Ministries in coordinating and promoting cooperation across the
fields in bilateral ties towards a healthy and substantial growth of
economic-trade relations, and maintain discussions on international and
regional issues of mutual concern.
The
two sides discussed sea-related issues in a sincere and straightforward manner and
agreed to continue optimizing the role of existing negotiating mechanisms. Minister
Son said that the two sides should handle disputes in the spirit of respecting
each other’s legitimate rights and interests, bilateral agreements and common
perception, and international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea, and work together with ASEAN to achieve positive progress regarding
a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC)./.