Talk of the town in Vietnam: how Xi today was received at the airport by Vietnam’s president (Luong Cuong) and Standing Secretary of the VCP Secretariat & anti-corruption tsar (Tran Cam Tu). No such top-level “airport reception” by Vietnam happened before since 1991. 
Visit was going to happen regardless of the trade war, but I wonder if this highest-level line of airport reception was decided at the last minute. May signal that Vietnam in the current context refuses to be externally pressured to fundamentally bend its ties away from China.
1991 was when China-Vietnam rapprochement happened amid the collapse of the USSR; also when Vietnam felt vulnerable in the world and sought closer ties with China. The airport reception shows that the party and now also the army take (greater) charge of Vietnam’s ties with China.
@drumtung’s article is worth a read. While territorial disputes remain, party-state ties have overall never been as deep and penetrating as these days (army, associations, media, education, tourism, sci-tech, security, more), and Vietnam is nonetheless navigating through it.
https://twitter.com/drumtung/status/1911012057815896201
@drumtung Beside the +40 deals to be signed this time, the $8.4bln-worth China (Yunnan)-northern Vietnam railway link is the highlight, with construction beginning in late 2025. In my view, the visit is also originally due to the strained relationship (2023-25) between Vietnam & Cambodia.
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