In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency's correspondent in Beijing, Xu Liping, Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said after the 19th CPC National Congress, Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping selected Vietnam as the first country to visit.

He said the upcoming visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong demonstrates the traditional friendship between the Communist Parties of Vietnam and China and the two States.

Party leader Trong is the first foreign leader to visit China after the 20th CPC National Congress, which, he said, reflects the specificity and importance of the relations between the two Parties and States.

During the COVID-19 pandemic combat, the two countries supported each other and effectively cooperated in the spheres of vaccine, medical equipment and diagnostic and therapeutic technology.

The visit to China by the Vietnamese Party leader is expected to deepen the strategic trust between the two Parties and States, diversify the content of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and intensify the mutual political trust between China and ASEAN./.

VNA