Vietnam's Foreign Minister Asks China to Speed Up Three Cross-Border Standard-Gauge Railways in Talks With Wang Yi
Beijing — Vietnam's Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on the afternoon of November 4, asking China to accelerate progress on three standard-gauge railway cooperation projects between the two countries, build smart border gates, expand imports of Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products, and promote balanced and sustainable trade. Le was in China for the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
The three lines are all standard gauge (1,435 mm). The Lao Cai–Hanoi–Hai Phong line is about 391 km long, electrified, designed for 160 km/h passenger and 120 km/h freight speeds, running from the rail connection point at the Lao Cai border crossing to Lach Huyen Port in Hai Phong. The Lang Son–Hanoi line runs about 146.9 km within Vietnam, from Pingxiang East station on China's Nanning–Pingxiang high-speed line to Gia Lam station in Hanoi, for mixed passenger and freight traffic at a design speed of 160 km/h. The Mong Cai–Ha Long–Hai Phong line is about 174.9 km, from Dongxing station on China's Fangchenggang–Dongxing line to Nam Hai Phong station, where it will connect with the new Lao Cai–Hanoi–Hai Phong line; it is designed for 160 km/h with provision to raise speeds to 200 km/h.
According to Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the talks were held in an atmosphere of friendship, sincerity and trust. The two sides agreed to implement the agreements and shared understanding reached by the top leaders of the two Parties and countries, to prepare for high-level exchanges including the 2026 APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, and to prepare for Vietnam's hosting of APEC 2027. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in energy, education, high-quality human-resource training and people-to-people exchanges, and to run the 2026–2027 Vietnam-China Tourism Cooperation Year.
Wang Yi congratulated Vietnam on the successful Fourth Plenum of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, said China supports Vietnam in achieving its development goals in the new era, expressed agreement with Le's proposals, and said China is ready to strengthen strategic exchanges, improve the effectiveness of cooperation in various fields and enhance people-to-people exchanges. The two sides also agreed to properly manage their land border and build a peaceful, cooperative and developing border region, and to control differences and appropriately resolve maritime issues through peaceful means in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Railway connectivity has been one of the focuses of China-Vietnam cooperation in recent years. The two governments had previously agreed to cooperate on building the three standard-gauge lines; this meeting was the latest occasion on which Vietnam asked China in person to speed the projects up.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：越南老街火车站，越中跨境铁路越南一侧的起点站之一。照片 CC BY-SA 2.0（calflier001），经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Lao Cai railway station in Vietnam, one of the Vietnamese-side starting points of the cross-border rail links with China. CC BY-SA 2.0 (calflier001), via Wikimedia Commons.
