Vietnam's ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong will be the first foreign leader to visit Beijing to greet Chinese President Xi Jinping who won a historic third five-year term in power on Sunday, the official media reported on Tuesday.
Trong will pay an official visit to China from Oct 30 to Nov 2 at the invitation of Xi, Xinhua news agency reported.
Vietnam and China are neighbours and are ruled by Communist parties. However, they share a complex bilateral ties. The two countries fought a border war in 1979. They also have acrimonious differences over their claims over the South China Sea.
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China claims most of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.
Despite the differences, the two nations share fraternal ties and maintain close communication.
Throng’s China visit assumes significance as he is the first leader to have been invited by Xi who laid emphasis on reigniting the CPC with more of Marxist ideology which has raised concerns that the party is reverting back to Mao era hard-core socialist policies, dialling down three decades’ old economic reforms.
Vietnam’s Communist Party too followed widespread economic reforms attracting huge foreign investments, emerging as a fast-growing economy in South East Asia.
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Xi, 69, was re-elected as the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), becoming the first leader after party founder Mao Zedong to continue in power after a 10-year tenure at the just concluded once-in-a-five years Congress, firming his grip over the party.
All his predecessors retired after 10 years in power, following a well-established rule.
Trong has held the highest position in Vietnam -- the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party -- since 2011, and was president between 2018 and 2021.
On Sunday, Trong congratulated Xi on his re-election as general secretary of the CPC and lauded his “sincere concern and great contribution to Vietnam-China relations for the benefit of the people of the two countries”.
According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper, managing ties with Vietnam is one of Beijing’s diplomatic priorities to offset rising US influence in the region as they are locked in a maritime dispute.
