Vietnam trip offers Chinese Premier Li Qiang a chance to ease tensions after ‘attack’ on fishermen

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is visiting Vietnam this week amid a sustained effort by Beijing to court its neighbour.

The trip also offers a chance to mend ties following a recent incident in the South China Sea where Hanoi accused Chinese coastguards of beating Vietnamese fishermen and removing their equipment.

Li’s visit, which will include meetings with the country’s leader To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, will start on Saturday after the end of a regional forum in Laos. It is the Chinese premier’s first trip to the two countries since he took office in March last year.

Announcing details of his trip, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning described Vietnam and Laos as “China’s socialist friendly neighbours”, and said the visits were of “great significance in promoting comprehensive strategic cooperation”.

“China hopes that through this visit, it can work with Laos and Vietnam to carry forward traditional friendship, strengthen strategic communication, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation [and] promote people-to-people bonds,” she added.

Hunter Marston, a Southeast Asia researcher at the Australian National University, said the trip followed a pattern of high-level visits between the two countries and efforts to reaffirm ties between the two ruling communist parties.