BEIJING, April 23 -- The seventh China-Vietnam Border Defense Friendship Exchange was held on April 23 in Longzhou County of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Quang Hoa County of Vietnam's Cao Bang Province, and relevant port areas. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe and Vietnamese Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang led delegations to participate in the event respectively.
General Wei Fenghe said that Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee , have been steering the China-Vietnam relations for sound development. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the two sides have held border defense friendship exchanges for two consecutive years, demonstrating the profound friendship of "comrades and brothers" of the two countries and maintaining the good momentum of friendly exchanges between the two militaries.
General Wei Fenghe pointed out that the two militaries should maintain high-level strategic communication, strengthen maritime security cooperation, promote exchanges in professional fields and strengthen multilateral coordination. Both sides should improve the border defense cooperation mechanism, crack down on cross-border crimes, strengthen pandemic prevention and control, and jointly safeguard peace and tranquility along the China-Vietnam border. The two militaries should also properly handle maritime disputes, guard against interference and sabotage by countries outside the region, advance cooperation in the South China Sea, and jointly uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, General Wei added.
General Phan Van Giang thanked China for providing Vietnam with COVID-19 vaccine assistance and wished the 20th CPC National Congress a success. He said that developing Vietnam-China relations is a diplomatic priority of Vietnam and the defense cooperation is an important pillar of Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership .
He added that Vietnam is willing to deepen practical cooperation with China in border defense cooperation, military political work, military medicine, etc, and make new contributions to maintaining border peace and stability and promoting bilateral relations.
The two sides also exchanged views on the international and regional security situation and the situation in Ukraine.
During the event, both sides added paint to the inscriptions of a boundary monument No. 943 (1) erected along the China-Vietnam border, planted friendship trees and visited a local primary school in Vietnam.
