Chinese President Jiang Zemin's successful visit to Vietnam will have a positive and far-reaching impact on the all-round development of China-Vietnam relations in the new century as well as on peace, stability and development in Asia and the world, said a Chinese party official Friday.
Dai Bingguo, head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who accompanied Jiang during the visit, made the comments while on his way back home.
Jiang, also general secretary of the CPC, visited Vietnam at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nong Duc Manh and Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong from February 27 to March 1.
During his visit, Jiang met again with Nong Duc Manh who had visited China last December. He also held separate talks with Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on the development of bilateral relations in the 21st century and international and regional issues of mutual concern.
"It is President Jiang's first overseas trip this year," Dai said. "This important diplomatic move reflects the great importance our party and government attach to the consolidation of the traditional China-Vietnam friendship and the development of the good-neighborly and friendly relations."
The visit furthered the mutual understanding and trust between the leaders of the two countries and gave fresh impetus to bilateral relations, he stressed, adding that mutual trust between China and Vietnam have been on the rise since the normalization of their ties in 1991.
During the visit, Dai noted, Jiang and Vietnamese leaders agreed to promote mutual trust to a new high in order to better implement the principles of long-term stability, future orientation, good-neighborliness and all-round cooperation, which the two countries set out in 1999 to guide the development of their relations.
The visit charted the course of future China-Vietnam relations,Dai said, adding that Jiang put forward new proposals for the expansion of bilateral ties while meeting Vietnamese leaders.
The proposals lay stress on carrying on the good tradition of maintaining contact and exchanges between the two parties and the two countries at the top level, expanding bilateral economic and trade ties, educating the two peoples about the spirit of a long-lasting friendship, strengthening bilateral cooperation on the boundary issue, and furthering the exchange of experience in building the party and running the country.
The proposals, which underscore the importance of long-term stability, mutual trust, good neighborliness, all-round cooperation and common development, met a positive response from Vietnamese leaders, he said.
Jiang also delivered a speech at Hanoi National University, deeply convinced that a brighter future of the China-Vietnam traditional friendship in the 21st century also depends on the common efforts made by the youths of the two countries, Dai said.
In his speech, Jiang encouraged the Vietnamese and Chinese youths to develop the traditional China-Vietnam friendship and increase exchanges and mutual understanding so that the friendship between the two peoples will last from generation to generation.
(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2002)
