Vietnam’s new leader Visit to China highlights crucial relationship

BEIJING: Vietnam’s new leader, To Lam, is making China the destination for his first overseas visit, signalling the continuing importance the Southeast Asian country places on its giant neighbour even as it strengthens ties with the United States and others.

Lam stepped off a Vietnam Airlines plane on an overcast Sunday morning in Guangzhou, a major manufacturing and export hub near Hong Kong, China’s state media reported.

He later flew to Beijing, where he will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. His three-day visit comes about two weeks after Lam was confirmed as general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, the country’s top political position. He succeeded Nguyen Phu Trong, who died last month after 13 years as leader. Lam also has held the largely ceremonial title of the nation’s president since May.

The new leader is expected to continue his predecessor’s strategy of balancing ties with China, the United States, Russia and others, Yu Xiangdong, the director of the Institute for Vietnam Studies at China’s Zhengzhou University, wrote Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper.

“The fact that Lam chose China as his first overseas visit destination since taking office is a sign that Vietnam attaches great importance to its relations with China,” Yu said in an opinion piece.