Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for China and Vietnam to “strengthen strategic cooperation” to guard against global turbulence during talks with his counterpart in Hanoi, Chinese state media said.
The two socialist states have sought to deepen already close economic and security ties to guard against global trade upheaval instigated by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Beijing has portrayed itself in the region as a reliable alternative to an erratic United States, and Wang described an “international landscape characterised by intertwined turmoil”.
“The two countries should deepen strategic mutual trust, strengthen strategic cooperation, promote development amid change, safeguard security amid crisis, enhance their respective national strategic resilience and development momentum,” Wang told Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung during talks on Sunday.
Trung proposed that both sides “promote balanced and sustainable trade” and called for “boosting high-quality investment, fostering technology transfer within industrial cooperation and coordinating closely to ensure energy security”, according to a statement from Vietnam’s foreign ministry.
They also held “sincere and frank discussions regarding maritime issues”, the statement said.
Wang, meanwhile, said China would work with Vietnam to “properly handle maritime issues”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Beijing and Hanoi have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety.
Both sides have undertaken land reclamation to build islands, some with military infrastructure, to bolster their claims.
They also exchanged views on “international and regional issues of concern”, according to a Chinese readout of the talks. — AFP
