President To Lam hosts Chinese General Secretary and President's Special Representative

President To expressed heartfelt gratitude to the CPC Central Committee for its prompt and sincere message of condolence. He also thanked General Secretary and President Xi Jinping for his visit to the Vietnamese Embassy in China to pay tribute to and shared many heartfelt remarks about the late General Secretary.

He said Wang’s presence at the state funeral of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in his capacity as the Special Envoy of General Secretary and President Xi Jinping reflects the friendly neighbourliness, the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and the Viet Nam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance. It also demonstrated the sincere feelings and respect of the Chinese Party, State, and people as well as President Xi himself, toward the Vietnamese General Secretary.

Wang, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the death of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is a tremendous loss of not only the Vietnamese Party, State and people, but also the Chinese Party, State and people and the cause of peace and progress of humankind.

The Party, State and people of China will always stand shoulder to shoulder with their Vietnamese counterparts, supporting Viet Nam’s renewal and socialism construction and actively promoting the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, he said.

He described Viet Nam as a priority and a strategic choice in China's neighborhood diplomacy policy.

In reply, President To stressed that Viet Nam gives top priority to the relationship with China in its overall foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external ties.

Both sides agreed to continue closely adhering to and effectively realizing the important common perceptions reached by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and General Secretary and President Xi Jinping, and maintaining high-level exchanges in the near future.

Later the same day, Wang Huning met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh./.