Ties with Vietnam bore fruit in 2017

Cross-border economic cooperation between China and Vietnam has seen major progress this year, with further implementation of the two countries’ strategic integration plan.

This year, a flagship project launched by the two countries in 2013 to boost mutual economic and trade cooperation — the Dongxing-Mong Cai Cross Border Economic Cooperation Zone — completed construction on several key infrastructure projects, while attracting 10 projects whose investment totaled 1.3 billion yuan ($196 million).

The construction of the Vietnam-China Bac Luan (Beilun) Bridge, the first pontoon bridge connecting Mong Cai, Vietnam, with Dongxing in China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has been completed. The Bac Luan II bridge opened in Vietnam’s northern Quang Ninh province in September.

According to Nguyen Duc Long, chairman of the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee, the Bac Luan II bridge — which is 618 meters long and 27.7 meters wide — will help boost bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade, investment and tourism, between Quang Ninh and Guangxi.

Located in the core section of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the economic cooperation zone offers the shortest, fastest and most cost-efficient route for goods exported from ASEAN members to China.

He Chaojian, director of the Dongxing National Experimental Zone, who leads the program in China, said: “The zone is only 39 kilometers from Fangchenggang, the largest harbor in Guangxi autonomous region, from which the goods can be delivered to more than 200 ports around the world.”

“Cross-border cooperation is a promising area of bilateral cooperation,” He said. “The zone will be backed up with a dynamic economic hinterland covering 600 million ASEAN people, among whom people-to-people exchanges and trade are frequent.”

Accumulated investment in the zone has reached 670 million yuan, with more than 80 million yuan of that being invested this year.

More than 7 million people passed through Dongxing port in 2016, the most of any Chinese border port.