The 65th founding anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties was celebrated in Beijing on January 15.

The event was jointly organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in China and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).

Ambassador Nguyen Van Tho highlighted the traditional neighbourliness and friendship between Vietnam and China, which were established by late Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong and then nurtured by generations of the two countries’ leaders.

Such bilateral relationship is for the fundamental interests of the two peoples as well as for peace, cooperation and development, he said.

He stressed that despite difficulties and challenges over the past year, the Vietnam-China relations have enjoyed fresh development in various fields.

Via high-level phone talks and meetings, the two sides have reached important common perceptions on restoring and maintaining their relationship in a stable manner, increasing mutual trust, expanding and deepening the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership, contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and beyond, Tho said.

He reiterated that Vietnam always attaches importance to developing its comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China, regarding it as one of the consistent and long-term strategic priorities of the country.

Turning to the East Sea issue, the ambassador said he believes that if the two countries consistently pursue peaceful means and friendly negotiations on the basis of equality, mutual respect and international law, they will gradually find out an appropriate solution to the issue.

In 2014, two-way trade between Vietnam and China was estimated at 58.5 billion USD, up 16 percent against the previous year. Vietnam was the second biggest trade partner of China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while China remained Vietnam’s 9th largest investor with a total registered capital of 7.9 billion USD.-VNA