Vietnamese scholars and student: Actions motivate opening-up in Yunnan

Looking back to the just-concluded visit to Vietnam by a Yunnan friendly delegation, scholars and a student from Vietnam showed particular interest in what the two sides have achieved and manage to achieve on customs clearance, tourism cooperation, as well as cultural and youth exchanges.

Bui Xuan Mai

Bui Xuan Mai is a Vietnamese teacher at Nanning Normal University. Meanwhile, she also works as a consultant expert for Capvision Partners (Shanghai) Ltd. She said:

Yunnan is a beautiful place, and it has taken multiple actions to promote opening-up. Since China optimized its entry and exit policies on January 8, Yunnan has quickly taken actions to reopen its border with Vietnam. Thanks to the ‘smart ports’ initiative, customs services of the two sides are now faster than before.

According to Bui Xuan Mai, agro-products are currently Vietnam’s main exports to China, and small businesses make the bulk in the border trade. This apparently entails high efficiency in customs clearance.

With the resumption of customs services at Yunnan’s Hekou and Vietnamese Lao Cai, border economy has, once again, become a robust propeller to regional development.

Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam. Photo by Chen Chen

“In the context of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)，China and Vietnam (particularly Yunnan and Vietnam) should continue to strengthen customs digitalization and improve policy coordination. Meanwhile, their bilateral trade should be further developed to benefit more enterprises and local residents,” she suggested.

A golden tourism route which connects six destinations in Vietnam and China was recently launched. These destinations incorporate China’s Kunming city and Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, as well as Lao Cai province, Hanoi city, Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province in Vietnam.

Having looked at the effective control of COVID-19 and recovery of cross-border tourism, Bui Xuan Mai believed that the future of tourism cooperation between Vietnam and China would be even brighter.

“Tourism promotion events should be held on a regular basis to help the two sides learn each other’s policies and share the latest information. Such activities will also bring Yunnan’s tourism cooperation with Vietnam to a new high and contribute to the recovery of regional tourism as a whole.”

Dr. Tran Thi Thuy 

During the Yunnan delegation’s visit to Vietnam, the two sides reached consensuses on strengthening economic and trade cooperation, said Tran Thi Thuy, director of Historical and Cultural Studies Department of the Institute for Chinese Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS). Tran Thi Thuy is also a researcher holding a doctoral degree in Chinese studies.

Tran Thi Thuy noted that to strengthen cooperation between Yunnan and Vietnam is to fully implement the crucial consensuses reached by the end of 2022, when General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong met with Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in China.

Thuy added that the Joint Statement on Strengthening and Deepening the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership encourages the friendly exchanges and mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries especially in the bordering provinces and regions.

“Yunnan Party secretary Wang Ning’s visit to Vietnam is significant in promoting Vietnam-China cooperation. Sharing border with 4 Vietnamese provinces, Yunnan enjoys multiple advantages, and the province thus serves as the gateway for southwest China to cooperate with Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.”

Chu Thi Thuy

Chu Thi Thuy, a Vietnamese student at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics (YUFE) has been sharing her life in Yunnan on social media. “In YUFE, Mr. Ho Chi Minh, one of the most respectable leaders in Vietnam, left his footprints. I feel warm here.”

Ho Chi Minh lived in 1940 in a two-floor building on the Nanxi road in Mengzi city, south Yunnan’s Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture, where he was engaged in revolutionary activities.

Tran Thi Thuy and Chu Thi Thuy cherished these cultural links between Yunnan and Vietnam. “With the deepening of Vietnam-Yunnan cooperation on tourism, more Vietnamese tourists will visit the old residence of Ho Chi Minh. People from both sides hope for more friendly exchanges,” they said.

By Gateway reporters; Cover photo by Yunnan Daily