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Pictured is To Linh Hoa, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam

To Lin, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of Vietnam, will pay a state visit to China starting today. To Lin was just elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam earlier this month after the death of the former General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. In fact, at Nguyen Phu Trong's funeral, To Lin made it clear to the Chinese representatives that Vietnam would bear in mind Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong's exhortation that "the friendship between Vietnam and China is deep, and comrades are brothers", and would always give top priority to developing relations with China. Only half a month after taking office, To Lin chose China as the first country he visited, and it was a state visit, which shows that Vietnam attaches great importance to Sino-Vietnamese relations and has fulfilled its previous promises.

Now "bamboo diplomacy" has become a label for Vietnamese diplomacy. In Vietnam's discourse system, one of the characteristics of bamboo is its flexibility and ability to sway with the wind. In the context of the world's return to geopolitical competition, Vietnam has also maximized its own interests by moving between different major powers.

Pictured: Surin and Blinken

As we all know, China is Vietnam's comprehensive strategic partner, which is the highest level in Vietnam's diplomatic hierarchy, but Russia, Japan, India, South Korea, the United States and Australia also have this status. After this round of high-level interaction between China and Vietnam, we are likely to witness Vietnam's interaction with Western countries in the near future, so there is no need to make a fuss about it. But To Lin's visit this time also shows that Vietnam is well aware that whether it is bamboo diplomacy or balanced diplomacy, there must be a focus. To Lin chose China as the first country to visit after taking office, which highlights China's priority.

In fact, the establishment time of the comprehensive strategic partnership can also explain this problem. China and Vietnam established the highest level of partnership as early as 2008, while the United States and Vietnam did not reach this goal until last year. Although Vietnam also intends to use the United States to balance China's influence, the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam is also well aware that the mutual distrust between the United States and Vietnam due to differences in political systems and ideologies cannot be fundamentally eliminated, and China and Vietnam still need to rely on each other.

The picture shows the economic cooperation between China and Vietnam

This visit by Su Lin to China will further promote the formation of a deeper interweaving of interests between China and Vietnam. For a long time in the past, Vietnam has been skeptical about connectivity with China. However, since the opening of the China-Laos high-speed railway in neighboring Laos, not only have its own products begun to be shipped to China, but neighboring countries such as Thailand have also asked Laos to "borrow the road", which makes Vietnam very jealous. On the other hand, Vietnam's economy is heavily dependent on foreign trade. In recent years, it has taken advantage of the transfer of supply chains, but the bottleneck of domestic infrastructure has never been broken through, limiting the investment willingness of foreign companies.

In June this year, when Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh came to China, he expressed his hope to promote high-speed rail cooperation with China, which also marked a change in Vietnam's attitude. During Tou Lin's visit to China, some Vietnamese officials also leaked in advance that Tou Lin would sign a new railway agreement with China. According to reports, there are now three railway lines under planning in northern Vietnam, namely the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Haiphong line, the Dong Dang-Hanoi line and the Mong Cai-Haiphong line. Once connected, the connection between northern Vietnam and Yunnan and Guangxi in my country will be closer.

The picture shows the first joint coast guard exercise between the Philippines and Vietnam

Of course, while promoting cooperation, China and Vietnam cannot ignore their differences, especially the South China Sea sovereignty dispute, which is the main source of the conflict between China and Vietnam. Some countries are also deliberately taking advantage of this. Earlier this month, the Philippines and Vietnam held their first joint coast guard exercise, which was hyped by Western media as "jointly exerting pressure on China." But in fact, China and Vietnam have held joint coast guard patrols many times before, and this joint exercise between Vietnam and the Philippines also avoided sensitive locations and exercise subjects.

It must be admitted that the complex history and sovereignty disputes have caused a lot of suspicion between China and Vietnam, but while protecting our own interests, we must also be wary of some people trying to sow discord. Some controllable conflicts should still be avoided as much as possible. Against the backdrop of the United States' escalating competition with China, stabilizing neighboring countries is of great strategic significance to China.