Hanoi [Vietnam], December 14: China and Vietnam should oppose any "attempt to mess up Asia-Pacific", President Xi Jinping said Wednesday during a trip to Hanoi, as Beijing seeks to counter expanding US influence with the communist nation.
The trip is Xi's first to neighbouring Vietnam in six years, and the two nations committed to deeper ties and signed more than 30 agreements, including a pledge to develop rail links between Vietnam and China. The two-day visit comes after Hanoi upgraded diplomatic ties with Washington when US President Joe Biden visited in September.
Xi said China and Vietnam "should be vigilant against and oppose any attempt to mess up Asia-Pacific", according to Xinhua, China's official state news agency. "We should strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs, and jointly maintain a sound external environment," Xi said.
Biden's visit was part of US efforts around the world to contain China's rising economic power-and to secure supplies of crucial materials needed for high-tech manufacturing. China and Vietnam said in a joint statement Tuesday they would "continue to deepen and increase bilateral relations".
They agreed to build a "community with a shared future", and said the visit was a "historic landmark in bilateral ties... contributing to peace and stability and development in the region and the world". Vietnam has long pursued a "bamboo diplomacy" approach, striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.
It shares US concerns about Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the contested South China Sea, but it also has close economic ties with China. Xi said Wednesday that China was ready to work with Vietnam to "find a long-term solution to maritime issues" and help reach a "substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea", according to Xinhua. On Wednesday, Xi laid a wreath at the mausoleum of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh and met with Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Vo Van Thuong.
Chinh said Vietnam was committed to "supporting China to strongly develop, promoting its role as a major country with important contributions to the international community, supporting initiatives by comrade Xi Jinping for peace, cooperation and development in the world".
Meanwhile, China on Wednesday accused Britain of having "malicious intentions" toward Hong Kong after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with the son of jailed pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai.
Lai, a 75-year-old British citizen and founder of the now-shuttered tabloid Apple Daily, has been behind bars in Hong Kong since 2020, awaiting trial for alleged "collusion with foreign forces" under a controversial national security law. Cameron met Lai's son Sebastian in London on Tuesday to "listen to his concerns for his father", the UK Foreign Office wrote on social media, adding that "the UK opposes the National Security Law and will continue to stand by Jimmy Lai and the people of HK".
"China urges the UK to earnestly respect the facts and the rule of law, and stop meddling in Hong Kong issues and China's internal affairs," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday in response to the meeting.
Mao called the senior Lai "a driving force between the chaos in Hong Kong", referring to massive pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019. The UK's "double standards and malicious intentions are clearly exposed", Mao said. If convicted, Lai faces up to life in prison under the national security law, which Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.
The law's aim was to quash dissent, and prominent opposition lawmakers and democracy activists in the semi-autonomous city have either fled abroad or been jailed in the three years since its passage. Initially scheduled to start a year earlier, Lai's trial for alleged collusion has been twice postponed and is now slated for December 18.
He has also been sentenced for attending four pro-democracy protests and for an additional charge of "fraud"-convictions that together came with sentences of more than seven years. - AFP
Source: Kuwait Times