Beijing (VNA) –♉ Lei Xiaohua, Deputy Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies under the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, has made several proposals to help China and Vietnam promote practical cooperation as the two are celebrating the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

In an article on Global Times, a publication of the People's Daily – the organ of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Lei firstly stressed the importance of creating a concentric circle of cooperation based on mutual trust, adding strengthening strategic trust is a crucial foundation for enhancing substantive cooperation, and that effective opinion exchanges and policy connection are useful to reinforcing their mutual strategic trust. In the context of complex regional and international developments, both sides need to persist in maintaining the stable development of relations between the two Parties and two countries, while also enhancing multilateral coordination. This includes jointly promoting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), pushing for the early signing and implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0, and Vietnam actively supporting China’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Secondly, the scholar stressed the need to improve the effectiveness of collaboration in terms of connectivity, as infrastructure connectivity is crucial for enhancing substantive cooperation between the two countries. In the future, they need to accelerate the construction of high-capacity railway lines, focusing on building cross-border standard-gauge railways, speeding up the building of transit facilities, developing smart border crossings, boosting hard connectivity, connecting their regulations and standards, developing smart customs, and increasing the level of soft connectivity. Thirdly, promoting more effective and larger economic and trade links is essential. The scholar cited statistics from Vietnam Customs as showing that in 2024, bilateral trade reached 205.2 billion USD, setting a new record and making China Vietnam's first partner with a trade scale exceeding 200 billion USD. The two sides need to continue fostering the balanced and sustainable development of bilateral trade, and increasing the proportion of high-tech products such as electronics, machinery and equipment, and new energy vehicles, Lei suggested. Fourthly, the expert highlighted the role of the China-Vietnam Working Group on Financial and Monetary Cooperation to form guidelines for bilateral currency payment, support the expansion of the scope of payments in local currencies, and improve the cross-border payment network. Last but not least, it is important to strengthen the social foundation of public opinion on cooperation from the perspective of responsibility. Chinese businesses in Vietnam need to actively fulfil their social responsibility, continuously improve the quality and efficiency of their products through technological innovation and business model changes, and build their own image based on high standards, he said./.