Xi arrives in Vietnam as anger brews over visit

Trong and Xi witnessed the signing of a dozen cooperation agreements covering party-to-party relations, investment, infrastructure, culture and a bank loan worth $200 million from China Development Bank to the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam.

“We have absolute confidence and capability in maintaining the peace and stability”.

“Never before have [the police] been so brutal to protesters like they were today-they beat women to the point that they fainted on the spot”, she said, adding that most people in the crowd were not activists and had only joined protests on Thursday.

According to a Facebook post by blogger Doan Trang, additional protests against Xi’s visit went on in the capital until at least 9:00 p.m., including in parts of the old city where tourists from China, South Korea and the West commonly go sightseeing.

Xi made the remarks while meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee.

Speaking to youth representatives from the two countries Friday on the last day of his two-day visit, Xi said China and Vietnam should strengthen mutual trust and cooperation for common development.

China regards the island as a renegade province, but there are significant trade and cultural relations between the two.

The visit expands pragmatic cooperation between China and Vietnam, China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to steer the China-Vietnam community of destiny to a new level.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, November 7, repeated his country’s uncompromising claims to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) but pledged that it would not “bully” its weaker neighbors.

“It’s normal for neighbors to have rows, yet the two sides should always keep the overall interests of our relations in mind and properly control and manage our disputes through peaceful and friendly negotiation”.

His speech was received by Vietnamese MPs with caution.

He wished the Chinese people would successfully implement national construction targets under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

“We are willing to carry on with the good tradition of learning from each other, supporting each other, working together for the development of our two countries’ socialism and the happiness of our people”, he said.

Anti-China sentiments are still running high in Vietnam, a year after Beijing placed a controversial oil rig in disputed waters, leading to several small maritime confrontations and deadly rioting in mainland Vietnam, which is one of several countries with competing maritime claims with China.

Cam Ranh is the jewel in the crown of Vietnam’s military, with an air base once used by the USA and Soviet forces and a deep water bay home to its modern, Russian-built submarines.