June lychee season promise

Chinese Ambassador He Wei interacts with Vietnamese reporters on June 6. (Photo: Phuong Ha)

Enjoy red fabric, share friendship

Last October, when he had just started his term in Vietnam, Chinese Ambassador He Wei met with Vietnamese reporters to discuss many plans the Ambassador cherished to further promote the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and the Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future, which has strategic significance.

Walking around the Embassy grounds, Ambassador Ha Vi stopped at the base of many-year-old lychee trees in the corner of the garden and said that the Embassy staff and officers throughout their terms had taken care of these lychee trees. In the past, every lychee season in May and June, the Embassy would choose the freshest bunches of lychee to present to President Ho Chi Minh . Every time he enjoyed the lychee, he praised it as delicious.

Ambassador Ha Vi said that taking care of the lychee trees is also to respect the affection that President Ho Chi Minh had for the embassy. "I really look forward to next year's lychee season, when we can enjoy red lychees and talk about the friendship between China and Vietnam," the Chinese diplomat said. The group of reporters eagerly clapped their hands, creating a buzz in a corner of the embassy garden.

This year, the summer sun began to heat up, which was also the time when lychees were ripe, dyeing many midland countrysides red. Street vendors carrying ripe lychees decorated the urban markets and streets. When many of us reporters were so busy with our work that we forgot about our appointment that day, we suddenly received an invitation from Ambassador Ha Vi to attend the exchange "Enjoying red lychees - Sharing friendship". Everyone was looking forward to enjoying the lychees that Uncle Ho praised in the past.

At the meeting, the Chinese Ambassador invited reporters to enjoy not only red lychees but also fresh coconuts - two prominent fruits that Vietnam exports to China, achieving impressive results. The lively exchange covered many topics, from stories of the timeless friendship between the two countries to the ties in cooperation, especially agricultural products. Agricultural cooperation between the two countries has developed rapidly in recent times, becoming a pillar in economic cooperation.

Ambassador Ha Vi shared that for many years, China has always been the largest export market for agricultural, forestry and fishery products of Vietnam, contributing to increasing the income of tens of millions of Vietnamese farmers, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 91% of Vietnam's total durian export turnover is exported to China. "When we return to our homeland, we can see Vietnamese durian," the Ambassador shared.

According to him, the advantage in transportation helps high-quality Vietnamese goods access the billion-people market. In August 2024, Vietnam's fresh coconuts were officially licensed for export to China. In just four months of 2024, according to statistics, Vietnam's fresh coconuts and coconut products exported to China exceeded 1 billion USD.

Late last year, Ambassador Ha Vi made a field trip to several provinces in the South Central region, where he noticed that the price of fresh coconuts in the area had doubled compared to 2023, and farmers’ incomes had also increased significantly. This further encouraged the Chinese diplomat to make greater efforts to ensure that agricultural shipments could smoothly roll through the border gates to all parts of the Northeast Asian country.

According to the Ambassador, China will continue to open its market to Vietnamese goods. In terms of PPP (purchasing power parity), China is a super large market (population 1.4 billion people), with potential and open space, which can promote the consumption of Vietnamese products.

Two "golden ages"

Ambassador Ha Vi spent a lot of time talking with Vietnamese reporters about the great friendship between the two countries, originating from the affection between President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Mao Zedong, and nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

“The warm friendship between China and Vietnam has helped us win. The period of President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Mao Zedong is considered by us to be the first golden period in the history of relations between the two countries,” Ambassador Ha Vi emphasized.

According to the Chinese diplomat, the two countries are currently in a “second golden period”, with General Secretary and President Xi Jinping and the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and General Secretary To Lam jointly guiding and deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, promoting the building of a Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future of strategic significance.

The most impressive images of Ambassador Ha Vi are General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong planting a friendship tree at the Lang Son Provincial Friendship Border Gate in the border area between the two countries (August 2023). During the Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange Year 2025, General Secretary To Lam recently planted a tree named "Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange" in the grounds of the Vietnam-China Friendship Palace.

Within a year and a half, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping paid two state visits to Vietnam, "therefore, we consider this the second golden period in the history of China-Vietnam friendship," the Ambassador said.

Entering a new era, with the strategic orientation of the leaders of the two Parties and two countries, Ambassador Ha Vi believes that the Vietnam-China relationship will develop to a new height. “The relationship between China and Vietnam is developing in an unprecedented period, at the highest level and fastest speed,” the Ambassador commented.

The exchange ended when the plates of fresh lychees on the table gradually emptied. A newspaper representative shared the feeling of the sweetness of the lychees as well as the "sweetness" of the friendship between the two countries. The lychee tree has blossomed and borne fruit over the years, as well as the cooperation between the two countries in various fields has continuously expanded and developed. "The red lychee tree is also a red address, a place imprinted with memories of Uncle Ho in the past so that we can cherish and further promote the everlasting friendship between Vietnam and China", commented a reporter before closing the exchange in endless applause...

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/loi-hen-mua-vai-thang-sau-317509.html