Tensions between China and Vietnam are about to ease as ties continue to warm between the two countries, following decades-long disputes.
Vietnam's top leader To Lam will visit China next week, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday, as ties between the two nations continue to warm.
As reported by Reuters, the Vietnamese state president's and party chief's planned visit to its much larger and economically significant neighbour from April 14 to 17.
Lam will be meeting his counterpart, President Xi Jinping, and it would be his first overseas trip since he was elected state president.
China and Vietnam have been growing closer, with cooperation breakthroughs in multiple sensitive fields, including rail links, special economic zones in Vietnam set close to China, and having Chinese tech in Vietnam's 5G network.
With trade and investment as the backbone of bilateral ties, officials have said both countries could sign new agreements on telecom infrastructures and other sectors during the upcoming visit.
China is the Southeast Asian nation's largest trading partner, while Vietnam holds the top spot in ASEAN as China's largest partner with deeply integrated supply chains.
Both Vietnam and China reaffirmed bilateral economic cooperation as recently as last month when Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Hanoi.
However, historical sensitivities over maritime claims still remain the most testy part of the neighbors' relations.
Both communist neighbors maintain differing views over boundaries in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea.
