Xi to visit Vietnam to mend ties after oil rig row

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to pay a state visit to Vietnam starting from this Thursday.

Bilateral relations plunged to their lowest point in years following Chinese’s parking of a giant oil rig near the Paracel islands in an area Vietnam claims as within its exclusive economic zone.

Taking the second question, first, it needs to be pointed out that if the Chinese President’s current visit to Vietnam was aimed at a “reset” of China-Vietnam relations, then, it should have been a Vietnam-specific visit to add diplomatic and political finesse’.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled the plan to provide additional used ships during a meeting with Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Tokyo in September.

“Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” contains 79 speeches, talks, interviews, notes and letters of the Chinese leader between November 2012 and June 2014.

Jia Duqiang, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Xi is visiting Vietnam and Singapore partially because of the significant roles and influence that they have within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “China is unhappy at the closeness of Vietnam’s relationship with the United States, including the unprecedented visit of the CPV General Secretary to Washington last July”, said Abuza.

After a wave of tensions caused by their South China Sea row, China and Vietnam are walking out of the woods.

It is now learnt that the US President would visit Vietnam early next year, presumably after the new Vietnamese leadership is installed. The visit will underline Singapore-China cooperation and friendship.

During the two-day visit, the neighboring countries are expected to sign a host of agreements on areas such as party-to-party cooperation, culture education, infrastructure projects, economy, trade and investment, according to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua.

Before the two countries set up diplomatic ties in January 1950, the relationship between the two communist parties had been established by late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong.

Xinhua is wiring a series of in-depth stories about the two-nation Asia tour, China-Vietnam and China-Singapore ties, and Beijing’s neighborhood and overall foreign policy. Vietnam’s joining the Trans Pacific Partnership led and sponsored by the United States is also a Chinese concern.

“Xi’s visit will not only serve as a stabilizer, but more importantly as a propeller”.

A few media reports highlight that there is a growing public opinion in Vietnam that in view of China’s increasing conflict escalation on South China Sea disputes and issues, it may be more prudent for Vietnam to discontinue its fine-balancing of its foreign relations between China and the United States. “And the United States has begun to more actively support Vietnam in this pursuit”, said Nguyen.