Beijing (VNA) – A Vietnam–China dialogue discussing opportunities for the two countries in building an Asia-Pacific community was held in Zhejiang province, China, on November 13, bringing together leading experts and scholars from both countries.
The event took place ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, scheduled for November 18–19 in Shenzhen. It provided a platform for experts, media representatives and businesses from the two countries to exchange in-depth views on issues of shared interest, promote mutual understanding and contribute their knowledge and experience to regional community development.
Discussions focused on China’s modernisation process, the interconnected development between Vietnam and China, the promotion of their Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the new era, and the enhancement of economic corridor connectivity and cross-border industrial chain cooperation.
Participants also examined the changing regional and global context, the current state of bilateral trade and investment, connectivity, and prospects for cooperation between the two countries in building an Asia-Pacific community.
In his opening remarks, Vice President at Zhejiang University of Technology Chen Yao, who is also Director of its Institute for Regional and National Studies (ASEAN Research Centre), said China, as the host of APEC 2026, has chosen “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together” as the theme of its APEC chairmanship, with three key priorities: openness, innovation and cooperation.
Meanwhile, Vietnam will assume the APEC host role in 2027, creating a close connection between the two consecutive host economies on shared responsibilities and opportunities for advancing Asia-Pacific cooperation, he noted.
Chen stressed that Vietnam–China cooperation has a solid and practical foundation, adding China has remained Vietnam’s largest trading partner for more than two decades.
More importantly, bilateral economic ties are undergoing a structural shift. While Chinese investment in Vietnam previously focused largely on labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and garments, it has increasingly expanded into information technology, electronics, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and green energy.
Vietnam has clearly identified high technology, research and development (R&D), digital transformation and clean energy as priority areas for attracting investment. It also expects Chinese businesses to help increase local content and facilitate substantive technology transfer.
These developments reflect a shift in bilateral cooperation from simply expanding its scale towards creating synergies across industrial supply chains, which Chen described as one of the most valuable forms of cooperation for the development of the Asia-Pacific community.
From the Vietnamese side, Assoc. Prof. Dr Duong Van Huy, senior research fellow at the Institute for Asia-Pacific Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, said building an Asia-Pacific community is a shared goal of regional countries amid growing global uncertainty and divisions.
The idea has been promoted for many years and is now receiving renewed impetus, with the APEC forum playing an important role in advancing this vision, he said.
Addressing Vietnam–China relations and their contributions to regional community building, Huy emphasised that bilateral ties go beyond the scope of the two countries’ development.
Vietnam and China are active members of various regional multilateral cooperation mechanisms and are playing an increasingly constructive role in promoting cooperation among regional countries. Both affirmed that bilateral relations are gradually becoming a factor that may strongly influence developments across all fields in the Asia-Pacific region.
Therefore, the continued development of Vietnam–China relations is making a significant contribution to advancing the building of an Asia-Pacific community in the future, Huy added./.
