‘The visit of General Secretary and President To Lam will create more momentum for Vietnam – China relations’

General Secretary and President To Lam will pay a state visit to China on April 14-17. This is the most important bilateral foreign policy activity between the two Parties and two countries in 2026, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Thanh Binh said today in an interview with VNA.

This is also the first foreign visit of General Secretary and President To Lam after Vietnam consolidated the State leadership positions at the First Session of the 16th National Assembly and the first visit of the General Secretary and President to China after the 14th Congress.

“The visit is expected to create more motivation, open up new opportunities for cooperation, and help the relationship between the two Parties and two countries continue to develop stably, healthily and sustainably,” Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh said.

The Ambassador said that during the visit, General Secretary and President To Lam will have important talks with General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and meet with other senior Chinese leaders.

General Secretary and President To Lam will deliver a policy speech at Tsinghua University, meet with a number of relatives of friendly figures of the two countries, attend or announce the launch of a number of people-to-people exchange, cultural, artistic and tourism cooperation programs.

The General Secretary and President plan to have survey activities and learn about pilot models of new urban areas, railway infrastructure and industrial systems, research facilities, artificial intelligence applications, and innovation in both Beijing, Hebei and Guangxi.

The field surveys will contribute to promoting specific cooperation between ministries, branches, localities and businesses of the two countries, gradually concretizing high-level common perceptions and signed agreements into specific cooperation projects and programs, Ambassador Pham Thanh Binh said.

China was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam on January 18, 1950. The two countries upgraded their Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, promoting the building of a strategically significant Community of Shared Future by 2023.

Ambassador Binh said that practical cooperation between the two countries in recent times continues to be a bright spot, with trade, investment, and tourism between the two countries maintaining double-digit growth momentum.

China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner while Vietnam is China’s fourth largest trading partner in the world with bilateral turnover reaching more than 256 billion USD, an increase of 24.8% and continuing to maintain positive growth momentum in the first two months of 2026, reaching nearly 43 billion USD, an increase of 36.9%.

Regarding investment, in 2025, China will be the second largest investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 5.96 billion USD, an increase of 33.4%, leading in the number of new projects and in the first two months of 2026 maintaining a fairly high level, reaching 807.5 million USD.

Regarding tourism, China is Vietnam’s largest tourist sending market in 2025 with 5.28 million visitors, an increase of 41% and in the first two months of 2026 reaching more than 920,000 visitors.

The two sides are coordinating to soon complete the feasibility report of the Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong railway, aiming for a comprehensive construction start in 2026, while actively implementing planning work for the Lang Son – Hanoi and Mong Cai – Ha Long – Hai Phong routes. In addition, the two sides also promote the connection of digital infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, industrial and logistics infrastructure.

The two countries also implemented projects on AI application between localities, opened a Joint Innovation Center in Vietnam, as well as many clean energy, digital infrastructure, and information technology projects.