On the occasion of the state visit to China from July 18-22 by Vietnamese State President Tran Duc Luong, local media ran editorials Monday, highly appreciating the strong development of the friendly and all-round cooperation relations between the two countries in recent years.

In an editorial titled "Developing Vietnam-China friendly and comprehensive cooperation ties to a new height", the People newspaper said Luong's visit reaffirms the wish and the determination of the two peoples in reinforcing and developing the relations for their benefits.

"Since the relations' normalization in 1991, the friendly and cooperative ties between the two countries have rapidly developed both extensively and intensively with new quality... in recent years, the Vietnam-China trade and economic relations have gained remarkable progress with the two-way trade standing at 7.2 billion US dollars in 2004, up 190 times against 1991," the editorial said.

Vietnam and China are willing to share experiences in national construction and development, and effectively cooperate with each other in multilateral forums.

"Vietnam supports China's efforts in participating in the ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Nations) + 1, ASEAN + 3, ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum), APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting), and its important role in the United Nations and other international organizations ... Fine achievements of the Vietnam-China friendly and comprehensive cooperation ties help enhance the status of the two nations in the international arena," it noted.

Besides the bilateral relations, the editorial also spoke highly of the strong and rapid development of China. "We highly appreciate great achievements gained by Chinese people in over two decades of reform and openness, which have turned China into one of most dynamic economies with high growths in gross domestic product, fields and sectors."

In its editorial "The Vietnam-China relations develop comprehensively in a sustainable way," the People's Army newspaper said the ties between the two close neighbor countries is "an important factor, helping ensure peaceful and stable international environments for the people of each country to build their strong and wealthy nation."

Since leaders of the two countries put forth in 1999 the guiding principle of "good-neighborly friendship, all-round cooperation, long-term stability, and future orientation,"the Vietnam-China relations have developed to a new height with comprehensiveness and firmness, the editorial stated.

Nowadays, the bilateral ties have conditions for intensive and extensive development, bringing about great and practical benefits to the two sides, the editorial said, noting that Luong's visit is "a significant event which meets aspiration and interest of the two peoples."

"Despite being a developing country, China has provided Vietnam with official development assistance of 312 million US dollars, including non-refundable aid of 50 million dollars, in the past more than 10 years," the editorial said, noting that China has also helped Vietnam construct many economic, cultural, health and educational works in many localities.

"Another outstanding feature is that localities along the Vietnam-China borders have had many modes of direct cooperation, contributing to the friendly and peaceful border construction, and the economic and cultural development in border areas," it said.

Source: Xinhua