Before the high-level visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hanoi on December 12 –13, social networks said that the “community of common destiny” between Vietnam and China was announced by the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi completed arrangements with Vietnamese leaders during his visit last week.
The “Community of Common Destiny” between Vietnam and China will be included in the Joint Declaration during Xi’s visit and become a historic mark in the relationship between the two countries.
Regarding the concept of “common destiny,” according to Nguyen Quoc Hung’s Sino-Nom Dictionary, it is defined: “A prearranged arrangement in each person’s life, which follows the twist and turns, irresistible.” Similarly, it can be inferred that the “community of common destiny” between Vietnam and China also “follows the twist and turns, irresistible.”
That means, if we live we live together, if we die we hug each other and die. This means that from now on, the relationship between the Communist Party of China and the Communist Party of Vietnam will transform into a “partnership” relationship between the two states of Vietnam and China, in the 21st century.
Few Vietnamese people know that, during General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Beijing, after the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China at the end of 2022, the concept of “community of shared destiny” between Vietnam and China was presented by Beijing, and forced General Secretary Trong to sign, but at that time, Trong’s hands shook and did not dare to sign.
Experts say that Beijing did not know that General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong was originally a politician who thoroughly implemented the slogan: “If you eat, you will come, if you fight, Trong will go away.” .
That is the reason why President Xi Jinping is determined to go into the cave to catch the tiger, and also the reason why the Xi came to Hanoi this time. In Hanoi, Xi will force General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to sign a “community of shared destiny” between Vietnam and China.
The reason is very simple, Beijing is always considering the Vietnamese leadership as “prodigal children” who do not deserve respect.
Global Times once wrote about the meeting between Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi, June 18, 2014, on resolving the HD 981 rig crisis as follows:
“Speaking with Vietnam, China urges the ‘prodigal son’ to return home.”
Analysts at that time commented, saying that, based on that interpretation, it seemed that: “Yang did not come to Hanoi for a real dialogue, but just to give a lecture [to Vietnamese leaders]. The Chinese media’s portrayal, while seemingly positive, was in fact designed to fully prepare Beijing in case tensions continued to simmer.”
Recalling the humiliation just mentioned by the Hanoi leadership to see that the important reason for coming to Hanoi this time is Xi’s determination to upgrade China-Vietnam relations, which have already reached the ceiling, but must still be higher than the existing relations. Another relationship between Vietnam and the US, Japan, India, Korea and Russia. Because Beijing definitely refuses to be on equal footing with the countries mentioned above. China must be one step higher than the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, according to BBC, with countries in Europe, China only dares to call on them to join the so-called “community of common interests” not using the word “destiny“.
According to analysts, China often uses Chinese concepts with the intention that when translated into other languages, there will be different understandings.
The concept of “common destiny” in Chinese only implies “common direction,” completely different from the concept of “common destiny” in Vietnamese, which means living and dying together. That is why this topic causes strong reactions in the global Vietnamese community.
Currently, the Southeast Asia region has 5 countries that have a common destiny with China, which are: Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
A harsh lesson from Myanmar shows that, after signing a “community of shared destiny” with China in 2020, Myanmar’s political situation fell into instability and civil war returned. The fighting spreads and threatens to cause Myanmar’s military government to collapse.
The Vietnamese have a saying “There is a clear path but run through the bushes,” let me repeat it to see that Vietnam’s leadership is facing the risk of tying its hands and putting its neck in a trap. While Vietnam’s sovereignty over the East Sea (South China Sea) is threatened by Beijing every day, “sharing the common destiny” with the Chinese invaders, is no different from giving the country’s sovereignty of rich mountains, rivers, islands and sea left by our ancestors to China.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
