Chinese premier says China ready to work with Vietnam to expand bilateral trade

China stands ready to work with Vietnam to continuously expand the scope and improve the quality of bilateral trade, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday during a phone conversation with Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung at the latter's request.

Li said that during General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Vietnamese President To Lam's visit to China in April, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with him, and the two sides reached important consensus on building a higher-level China-Vietnam community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

Li noted that government departments and localities in both countries have since stepped up efforts to implement the outcomes of the visit, making positive progress.

Emphasizing the profound traditional friendship between China and Vietnam, Li said China has always prioritized Vietnam in its neighborhood diplomacy, and stands ready to work with Vietnam to follow the strategic guidance of the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, strengthen solidarity and mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and better promote common development and prosperity.

China is willing to work with Vietnam to deepen the alignment of development strategies, expand the scope and improve the quality of bilateral trade, advance infrastructure connectivity, accelerate the development of cross-border economic cooperation zones, and expand cooperation in fields such as energy and mineral resources, the digital economy, artificial intelligence and finance, so as to achieve higher-level mutually beneficial outcomes, Li said.

The two sides should work together to successfully hold events such as the China-Vietnam Tourism Cooperation Year, implement "small but beautiful" livelihood projects, properly manage and control maritime differences, and consolidate the foundation of public support for friendship between the two countries, Li said.

As unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise globally, Li said China is willing to enhance coordination and cooperation with Vietnam within multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, support each other in hosting the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting this year and next year, promote the building of an open Asia-Pacific economy, and safeguard free trade and economic globalization.

For his part, Hung said Vietnam-China relations are enjoying strong development momentum, adding that the Vietnamese party and government highly value the friendship between Vietnam and China and have always regarded developing relations with China as a strategic choice and a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy.

Hung said the Vietnamese side is willing to join hands with the Chinese side to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, maintain close high-level exchanges, consolidate strategic mutual trust, strengthen the alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation in trade, transportation infrastructure and other fields, promote tourism, education, health care and local-level exchanges, manage and resolve differences, and strive to achieve more practical outcomes in building the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and the Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

Hung welcomed more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam, saying the Vietnamese side is willing to provide favorable conditions for them.

Vietnam supports China in hosting this year's APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and is willing to strengthen multilateral communication and coordination with China to safeguard common interests, he added.

Chinese premier says China ready to work with Vietnam to expand bilateral trade

A leading Japanese economist has warned that the Bank of Japan's anticipated interest rate hike will not address the country's fundamental economic problems, calling instead for structural reforms and stronger support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The economist's comments come as the yen exchange rate continues to hover near 160 yen per U.S. dollar, with Japanese media and financial markets widely expecting the Bank of Japan to announce a rate hike at its monetary policy meeting on June 15 and 16.

"Japanese political and economic scholar Hamada Kazuyuki said: "The future trend of the Japanese economy is also affected by factors such as rising crude oil prices and inflation, and there are no signs of these problems being resolved anytime soon. If left unchecked, they will develop into a serious inflationary trend. This will not only affect enterprises but also the daily lives of ordinary people. Therefore, in order to curb these impacts, the Bank of Japan is taking countermeasures and adjusting toward the direction of raising interest rates. However, whether these measures can truly be effective still remains highly uncertain," he said.

He also noted that the operations of small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan continue to face pressure, and the overall recovery of the Japanese economy is filled with uncertainty. The Japanese government's model of relying on debt to rescue the market only addresses symptoms rather than root causes and cannot solve the fundamental problems of the Japanese economy, he added.

"More than 80 percent, or even 90 percent, of Japanese enterprises are small and medium-sized enterprises. Only a small number of large enterprises have gained profits from exchange rate fluctuations. The vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are already on the edge of life and death. Therefore, without more adequate support policies for small and medium-sized enterprises, it will be very difficult for the Japanese economy to achieve recovery or restoration. The current government is in a rather difficult situation. Originally, it said no supplementary budget was needed, but as the economy deteriorates, it has no choice but to rely on supplementary budgets and deficit financing to barely cope. But this is not a fundamental solution. Continuing down this path will only make Japan's situation further deteriorate. Therefore, if the government truly wants to improve the economy, it must cut waste within the existing fiscal scope and concentrate resources into truly effective areas. This is the necessary direction," he said.

Japanese economist warns rate hike inadequate, urges structural reform