The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Vietnam

As an important content in the two-party relationship, the exchange of experiences in the party building and country governance is constantly being expanded and deepened. Since 2003, the two parties have alternately held 15 theoretical seminars chaired by the Politburo members of both sides. At the workshops, experts and scholars exchanged and discussed issues of mutual concern such as the role of the Party in political, economic and social system construction, etc. helping to provide significant theoretical reference for studying and building of the road to socialism suitable for the situation in each country. In recent years, the two sides have further promoted the role of the Party channel exchange mechanism, and are continuously sending delegations at all levels to study on the socio-economic situation of both countries and the new reform and innovation measures and policies. This has effectively enhanced the mutual understanding and also played an important role in promoting the reform process and solving difficulties in the development of the two countries.

Cadre training is the traditional cooperation area of the two parties. Right from the 50s of the last century, the two parties cooperated to build the school of education in Guangxi, which in the seven years had trained nearly 7,000 Vietnamese teachers and officials, many of whom became high-ranking leaders of the Party, the Government and the Vietnamese Army and were the pillars in the reconstruction of Vietnam after the war, as well as the core force in the two countries’ friendly relations. The two countries attach great importance to the building of high-quality cadres, strong political ideology and professional competence. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese People and Talents were the key to China’s achievements. Vietnam also considers the talent fostering as one of the three breakthrough points in the development process. Since the 12th Congress, the Communist Party of Vietnam has continuously issued a series of decisions and regulations on the use and planning of cadres, with particular emphasis on strengthening and fostering strategic cadres. In order to further strengthen staff training cooperation in the new period, in recent years, the two sides have jointly developed a plan to cooperate in training cadres, step by step forming a comprehensive and multi-layer cooperation. As training institutions for senior cadres of the two Parties, the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China and the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to establish a mechanism of reciprocal visits between local Party schools, promoting an important role in raising the level of exchange and learning between the two parties.

The history of civil society development shows that a nation that wants to prosper and develop cannot separate from creative theoretical thinking and creative social practices. After 40 years of reform and opening, especially since the 18th Party Congress, China has gained achievements that have drawn the world’s attention. At the same time, in the unprecedented transformation of the world for hundreds of years, facing profound changes in the world, in the country and the Party, the task of deepening reform and development optimization has become much heavier than ever with new arising challenges and risks as well as the tougher challenges in the long-term ruling. An important historical task set forth for the Communist Party of China is to constantly renew and complete the path of socialism development with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Since the 18th Congress, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China headed by Comrade Xi Jinping has closely followed the conditions of the times and the new practical demands, standing on a completely new perspective to get on a hard journey in search of theoretical foundations to deepen the awareness of the ruling law for the Communist Party, the law of socialist construction, the law of human society development, revolving around important questions of the age, such as how to consistently develope a socialist characteristic of China in the new era, as well as how to uphold and develop the socialism of Chinese characteristics, thereby gaining a series of great achievements in the creation of theoretical works, forming the thought of Xi Jinping on the socialism of Chinese characteristics in new era. The ideological contents are extremely rich, including the modernization of the state governance capacity and mechanism, the systemization, the normalization and the sequencing of the Party’s leadership for all aspects of country development and the improvement of country governance by law.

At the same time, the Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era also profoundly addressed the relationship between China and the world, affirming that it will actively participate in the global management process; proposing a Chinese plan; giving a view on global management: co-discussion, co-building, co-benefit; and actively proposing for new international cooperation development: mutual respect, righteous justice, mutually beneficial cooperation and actively promote the construction of a human community.

The Communist Party of Vietnam has incorporated the Leninism-Marxism with Vietnamese reality, thus forming Ho Chi Minh thought, becoming the guiding thought and guideline in the construction of Vietnamese socialism. In the process of accelerating the cause of innovation, the Communist Party of Vietnam has constantly strengthened the creation of theory and practice, step by step determining the transition period to socialism and the main characteristic of socialism, paying attention to the construction of a socialist rule-of-law state and the development of a socialist-oriented market economy as the goal and direction for political and economic innovation, emphasizing the need to build a country of rich people, strong state with democracy, equitability and civilization.

In the past 30 years, Vietnam’s Renewal has achieved great achievements which are recognized by the whole world. From the ranking among the middle-income countries, Vietnam has become one of the nations with the fastest economic growth in the region and the world. Vietnam’s reform success has proven that Vietnam has found a path to socialism with Vietnamese characteristics, in line with the situation of Vietnam, positively contributing to the research journey for today’s socialist science.

China and Vietnam have similar political regimes and the same development path. Both countries shoulder the historical mission of making people rich, strong countries, reviving the nation, bringing happiness to people and together are important forces in the cause of promoting world socialism and the general progress of humanity. The new era and the new situation have brought Vietnam - China relations deeper strategic implications, bringing this relationship beyond the bilateral border to gain the regional and even global significance.

From that strategic point of view, General Secretary Xi Jinping during the discussions with Vietnamese leaders has repeatedly stressed that the development of Vietnam - China relations also needs “Not to forget the initial wish and forever engrave the mission”. That initial wish was the traditional friendship originally built and enriched by senior leaders of the two countries; that mission is the ideal belief and the shared historical responsibility of the two parties. This shows the importance of strengthening the Vietnam - China friendship and deepening the cooperation between the two parties.

The next year is the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam - China diplomatic relations and the ninety years of bilateral relations, which are very significant events for us to co-celebrate. In the new situation, how to deepen the cooperation between the two parties, and to promote the task of developing the Party and the State of each Party, is an important question for us. Both sides need to continue promoting specific advantages of the party channel, making good use of such mechanisms as theoretical workshops between the two parties, training cadres of the Party and the Government, and deepening the exchange and study of Party building and country governance experience, deepening the exploration of ways to respond to new problems, new challenges; joining hands to promote the development of the path to socialism with unique characteristics; essentially contributing to the development of world communism, providing useful experience for developing countries and actively contributing to the progress of humanity.

The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and China have a deep relationship. In December 1924, President Ho Chi Minh, the great leader of the Vietnamese nation during the period of revolutionary activities in Guangzhou, organized many youth political training classes, training the first generation patriotism intellectual class, laying an important foundation for the establishment of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1930. This was the initial embryo of the Vietnam Communist Party School. In 1949, the Nguyen Ai Quoc Central Party School was officially established as the precursor of the current Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

It has been 70 years since the establishment so far. The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics has trained many generations of cadres and leaders for Vietnam’s socialism construction cause, making an important contribution to the persistence in the ideology of the Communist Party, promoting the creative theoretical work and has also played a special role in deepening the exchanges of party building and country governance between the two countries. In the new situation, both countries should continue to uphold the traditional friendship and promote the role of the exchange mechanism of the two Party schools, continuing to develop exchanges at all levels, enriching the cooperation content and making a greater contribution to the development of the Vietnam - China comprehensive strategic partnership.

H.E. MR. Xiong Bo

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Vietnam