Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory telegram to Vietnam’s new party leader, To Lam on Saturday, calling for further efforts to strengthen political trust between the two neighbouring countries.
The message was sent hours after Lam, the president of Vietnam, was appointed to the country’s top position: general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Lam was unanimously elected by the party central committee in Hanoi on Saturday morning.
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The 67-year-old career security officer replaces Nguyen Phu Trong, VietnamThe party’s longest-serving party leader, who died two weeks ago.
Xi, who is also party secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, called Lam “comrade,” a reference to the ties between their parties.
“I am willing to work with Comrade General Secretary Lam to lead the construction of a community of destiny between China and Vietnam,” Xi said, as quoted by state news agency Xinhua.
He also pledged to “continue traditional friendship, consolidate political mutual trust, deepen strategic communication, promote practical cooperation and bring more benefits to the people of the two countries.”
Lam, a former public security minister who oversaw Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign, became president in May after a series of leadership changes that saw the country’s president and the speaker of the National Assembly removed from office over alleged links to corruption cases.
Observers expect Lam to maintain stable ties with Beijing and continue Trong’s pragmatic policy of “bamboo diplomacy” – a delicate balancing act between China and the US as the two superpowers vie for regional influence despite a growing rift with Beijing over maritime claims.
Trong, who had been party leader since 2011, had been ill and died on July 19 at the age of 80.
At a meeting in Hanoi on July 17, Lam told then-outgoing Chinese Ambassador Xiong Bo that the two sides should work together to “intensify exchanges at all levels and consolidate political trust … so as to better manage disputes.”
Developing ties with China has “always been a consistent policy, a strategic choice and a top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy in the areas of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification,” Lam told Xiong, according to the official Vietnamese News Agency.
The two countries concluded two weeks of joint counter-terrorism exercises on Friday, as part of their latest efforts to build confidence.
The exercises in China’s Guangxi border region were the first of its kind between the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary organization primarily responsible for China’s internal security, and the Vietnam Mobile Police, the tactical unit and paramilitary arm of the Ministry of Public Security once led by Lam.
To enhance mutual trust and cooperation capabilities, mixed teams of Chinese and Vietnamese personnel conducted training in simulated scenarios to tackle terrorist threats in urban and natural areas, including residential buildings, forests and rivers.
Participants were also placed in scenarios generated on an immersive mixed reality platform, donning virtual reality headsets for real-life training.
The exercises also saw the use of a number of unmanned devices and weapons, including small aerial vehicles, robotic dogs and unmanned ground vehicles.
This was “so that participants from both sides could strengthen research and practice in unmanned and intelligence technologies,” one of the Chinese commanders told the state-owned national defense channel CGTN.
While leaders in Beijing and Hanoi have repeatedly called for further efforts to deepen cooperation and enhance political mutual trust, tensions have occasionally arisen over disputed claims in the South Chinese Ocean.
Both countries are among the rival nations that lay claim to the Spratly Islands, called the Nansha Islands by China, and the Paracels archipelago, called the Xisha Islands by China and the Hoang Sa Islands by Vietnam.
Last month, Hanoi petitioned the United Nations for formal approval of its external borders legal continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile (370 km) limit and extending into the disputed area.
This happened after the Philippines, another candidate for the Spratly Islands and a US ally, a similar request was filed In June, it attempted to confirm the extent of the continental seabed in the western part of Palawan province, which matches Beijing’s claims to much of the South China Sea.
Both Manila and Hanoi have been the most vocal critics of China’s expansive claims to the strategic waterway.
However, it appears that Beijing has refrained from criticizing the ongoing political changes in Hanoi. extension of land reclamation in the Spratly Islands in recent months, while also being embroiled in fierce clashes with Manila over supply missions to a disputed reef in the Spratly Islands.
The difference in approaches has led to speculation about whether China is trying to avoid another maritime crisis with another rival after the US repeatedly reaffirmed its treaty obligations to defend the Philippines.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP)the most authoritative voice covering China and Asia for over a century. For more SCMP stories, explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook And Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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