Liz Lee
BEIJING, April 17 (Reuters) – China has offered to strengthen ties with Vietnam on railway infrastructure, from loans to technology to training, as its neighbor’s top leader Su Lam concluded a visit to Vietnam on Friday that included a high-speed rail trip through the country’s north and southwest.
China will guide companies to participate in Vietnam’s railway construction projects, according to a joint statement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling the move a “new highlight” of strategic relations.
This echoes calls for stronger transport and logistics links made by President Xi Jinping and Carrie Lam when they met on Wednesday.
Xi Jinping told Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor that neighboring countries should maintain strategic clarity and prioritize political security. Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made her first overseas trip after being elected as President of Vietnam last week.
“Infrastructure, especially railways, is becoming one of China’s clearest priorities in Vietnam,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at the Yusof Issa Institute of Southeast Asia in Singapore.
Chinese state media showed photos of Lam’s 10-hour high-speed train journey from the northern capital Beijing to Nanning, a southwestern Guangxi region bordering Vietnam, the day before she returned to Hanoi.
On Tuesday, he also took a high-speed train to visit Xiongan, an urban project in the northern province of Hebei.
Vietnam is a partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect transport between Asia and Europe, with many projects funded through loans and investments from Chinese state-owned institutions.
The 32 agreements signed this week included agreements on railway feasibility studies and efforts to improve relevant human capacity, state news agency Xinhua said.
Jiang added that the real test of these agreements will be in their implementation, where political will has been clearly demonstrated.
Security Question
Relations between the two countries are warming as Vietnam moves toward a governance model that increasingly resembles China’s, and Carrie Lam’s recent consolidation of power resembles that of her leadership.
They said in the statement that the law enforcement and security agencies of the two countries will cooperate more closely to combat terrorism and transnational crime, and exchange information and details to combat interference and separatism.
The two sides will also strengthen ties in aviation, 5G, big data and other technologies, new energy and key minerals.
Vietnam’s low-cost airline Vietjet Air this week signed a financial lease agreement with China Pudong Financial Leasing Company to purchase 10 C909 narrow-body aircraft from Shanghai Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China.
(Reporting by Liz Lee; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Clarence Fernandez)
