When Lam first visited China last August as Vietnam’s top leader, he began traveling in Guangzhou’s southern metropolitan city, not Beijing.
It was in Guangzhou a century ago that the late Vietnam leader, Ho Chi Minh, began his revolutionary activities in China. This is the era of History XI, known as the “shared red memory” between the two ruling parties.
XI will soon travel to Vietnam for a visit to the fourth province as the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and the general secretary of the President of China. The trip coincides with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Vietnam, two socialist neighbours who formed lasting bonds as “comrades and brothers.”
Behind the Philosopher is more than a diplomatic form. Xi sees enduring Chinese-Vietnamese friendship as a living cause. His upcoming visits will provide moments that draw inspiration from the celebratory past and diagrammatically chart future courses of bilateral relations.
“Uncle Ho”
During the 2017 national visit to Vietnam, XI brought the 19th issue of People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CPC Central Committee.
Inside the newspaper were 16 yellow copies carrying news reports on Ho Chi Minh. “These newspapers date back to Chairman Ho’s visit to China in 1955. It took a considerable amount of effort to find them,” Xi explained.
One notable edition dated June 26, 1955 featured front page photos of HO’s full column alongside Mao Zedong, Zhou and other first-generation CPC readers.
Ho, who founded the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in Hong Kong and led the liberation of Vietnam, formed close personal relationships with CPC leaders during his 12 years of revolutionary work in China. “He was like a brother to Prime Minister Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders,” Xi wrote in a signed article published by Vietnam’s leading newspaper Nhan Dan (People), ahead of his 2017 visit.
Xi Jinping (L, Front) discussed with the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong (R, Front), and on November 13, 2017, at the former residence of the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Xi cherishes the indelible contributions made by these great pioneers that have been made to promote friendship between China and Vietnam. During his first province visit to Vietnam in 2015, Xi Chiang quoted Ho himself in a speech to the Vietnamese Parliament, saying, “China and Vietnam enjoy the friendship of their comrades and brothers.”
Xi once shared personal respect for Chairman Ho while talking to young people in Vietnam. “We call him ‘Uncle Ho’,” Xi said. He said in the minds of Chinese people of his generation, Chairman Ho is remembered as a Chinese best friend.
In 2011, XI, then-China vice president, visited Ho’s former residence to learn more about his life. Before his departure, Xi left an inscription. “The spirit of a great man has been respected for thousands of years, and the friendship between China and Vietnam endures throughout the era.”
Six years later, during a 2017 state visit, XI again toured Ho’s former housing president. In a pond near Van Saint Nac, the wooden house where Ho once lived and worked, xi learns to clatter his hands before feeding fish.
While there, Xi recalls the bilateral connections and states, “We should learn from Chairman Mao Zedong, Zhou and Ho and carry over and develop the friendship between China and Vietnam for the benefit of both ethnic groups.”
Teach Chat
During Lam’s 2024 China tour, Xi prepared a tea ceremony for him at the Beijing tournament. The Vietnamese leader chose China as its first overseas destination just two weeks after being confirmed as general secretary of the CPV Central Committee. Nhan Dan (People) editorial highlighted the value that both countries place on traditional friendships.
Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, also gathered tea at Lam’s wife, Ngo Phuong Ly, and enjoyed traditional Chinese performances, including Chinese operas.
Xi Jinping’s wife, Peng Liyuan, chats with Lam’s wife, Ngo Phuong Ly, at a convention for the people of Beijing, the Chinese capital, on August 19, 2024.
Over the years, tea chat has evolved into a daily yet distinctive tradition during mutual visits between Chinese and Vietnamese leaders, given the similar tea cultures of both countries. “Unlike formal lectures, TeeTalks offers more intimate and personal communication to both leaders,” said Pan Jin-E, director of the International Communist Movement Department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Giving gifts during the tea chat created lasting memories of bilateral interactions. During XI’s province’s visit to Vietnam in 2023, Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong, who gathered tea to gather together with XI in Hanoi, presented him with a gift. “That may not be particularly surprising, but the true value lies in the precious brother friendship,” Tron told XI.
In 2017, after a tea talk in Beijing, Xi presented Tron with a replica of Ho’s handwritten poem in Chinese, titled “Walking.” The poem is about the painstaking but fixed quest of HO for the liberation of his nation. Xi also cited the poem in his 2015 speech to the Vietnamese Parliament, encouraging both sides to take a hyperopic view of bilateral relations.
Both China and Vietnam are socialist countries led by the Communist Party, with similar political systems and development paths. Xi once said: “China and Vietnam have been advocating for reform, opening up, innovation, and we have achieved what we have today because we have found a development path that suits our own national situation.”
In this age of transformation and challenge, the two neighbors decided to set their eyesight higher. When XI visited Vietnam in 2023, they pledged to build a Chinese-Vietnamese community with a common future that brings strategic significance. “We should walk this path together,” Xi told Trong at the end of the trip.
Young front runner
Also during XI’s 2023 state visit, Tron arranged a special meeting in Hanoi for Chinese leaders. The event brought together young Chinese and Vietnamese representatives, as well as individuals who helped build friendships between the two countries.
Xi Jinping, Nguyen Phu Trong and his spouse will pos for a group photo with representatives of young Chinese and Vietnamese people who contributed to the friendship between China and Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 13, 2023.
Xi encouraged attendees, especially the young people, to “lead” to promote bilateral friendship as “front runners.” On this occasion, Vietnamese student Le Nuguyet Quinn met XI for the first time.
Quynh is currently a 19-year-old freshman majoring in economics at Tsinghua University, Xi’s alma mater. She described her impression of Xi: “He is kind, tall and dignified.”
On behalf of Vietnamese youth, Quynh gave a speech in front of Xi at the event. The photo from that moment became a cover image of her profile on WeChat, China’s most popular all-in-one messaging app.
“Every time my classmates added me on WeChat and saw me meet Xi Dada, they were curious how it happened,” Quynh said. The loving term refers to an uncle in the Chinese dialect and was given to Xi by Chinese netizens. “It was a really great experience,” she said.
His hometown of nghe in Vietnam, Quynh, the province of Ho Chi Minh, began learning Chinese as a middle school student. After Xi stumbled over a video report of his visit to his alma mater, she turned to attend Tinua University, the school of her dreams.
Like Quynh, many Vietnamese students chose to pursue higher education in China. Around 20,000 Vietnamese students studied in China between 2023 and 2024. The number of Chinese students in Vietnam is also increasing.
Xi’s belief that friendship between nations lies in affinity among the people, truly chords with Quynh. “Where we go, if people from both countries come along well, they will naturally start to share elements of their culture with one another,” she said. “And that’s how friendship continues to grow.”
“And when it comes to maintaining our friendship between our two countries, it’s really our youth who will move forward that responsibility.”
MNA