By Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio
HANOI, April 8 (Reuters) – Vietnam’s top leader To Lam is planning a visit to China next week to meet his counterpart Xi Jinping, three people briefed on the plans told Reuters, in a trip that would closely follow his elevation to the state presidency.
The trip, which is still being planned and could be postponed because of scheduling issues, would cement Vietnam’s ties with its much larger neighbour at a time when both are worried about energy security and face tariff pressure from the United States.
The sources declined to be named because in Vietnam details of leaders’ overseas trips are considered sensitive. The trip is expected to take place on 14-17 April, two of the people said.
It would likely be Lam’s first overseas trip since he was elected state president on Tuesday, a step that gave him a powerful double mandate to rule the country for the next five years, with a concentration of power which is unusual in Vietnam and similar to China’s, where Xi also heads both the party and the state.
China’s foreign ministry said it had no information to provide on the possible trip at this stage.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
TECH, ENERGY LIKELY ON AGENDA
The two communist neighbours maintain differing views over boundaries in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls East Sea, but have recently grown closer, with cooperation breakthroughs in multiple sensitive fields, including rail links, special economic zones in Vietnam close to China’s border and the use of Chinese tech in Vietnam’s 5G network.
Possible new agreements on telecom infrastructures and other sensitive sectors may be reached at the meeting or ahead of it, although they may not be announced, officials have said.
Security cooperation, including import of China’s surveillance tools, has also been emphasised in recent meetings as police have gained significant leverage in Vietnam since Lam, a former head of the public security ministry, ascended to the top job.
Hanoi may also ask more help on energy security as it depends on imports from China of oil products, including jet fuel and some fertilisers, for which Beijing has restricted exports due to a supply crunch caused by the war in the Gulf.
Vietnam urged cooperation on energy security when the two countries’ foreign ministers met in mid-March, as Hanoi prepared plans for rationing jet fuel.
Lam travelled to China just after he was first appointed party chief in August 2024, in his maiden overseas trip in that job.
He had planned to meet Xi shortly after his confirmation as general secretary in January, multiple officials told Reuters, but that visit was postponed for unspecified reasons.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi; Additional reporting by Ryan Woo and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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