ISTANBUL

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called on Vietnam to deepen cooperation and promote "traditional friendship" with China during a meeting with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung in Beijing.

China attaches “great importance” to developing relations with Vietnam and is willing to “continuously promote traditional friendship,” deepen exchanges and cooperation across sectors and “properly manage differences,” Xi said, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

Le expressed Vietnam’s readiness to advance bilateral ties to “a new height,” the statement added.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also advocated for "close unity" with Vietnam to defend the international system during a meeting with Le on Tuesday.

Beijing and Hanoi "should closely unite and cooperate, ensure the two priorities of both development and security, firmly defend the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order underpinned by international law," Wang said, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry.

He added that the two countries should safeguard their legitimate rights and the shared interests of the Global South, and act as forces for peace, stability and development amid “changes unseen in a century.”

Wang and Le discussed the implementation of high-level agreements as well as regional and global issues of “mutual concern,” pledging to strengthen multilateral coordination and make “responsible contributions to peace, cooperation and development,” according to a statement from Vietnam’s government.

Le also outlined the Communist Party of Vietnam’s renewed foreign policy, highlighting the notion of “self-strengthening.”

"For the first time, diplomacy and international integration are defined as 'key and regular' tasks on par with national defense and security," the statement said.

He proposed enhancing cooperation in “emerging priority areas” such as science, technology and innovation, as well as accelerating transport connectivity, particularly in terms of railway links.