Top Vietnamese lawmaker in China after president's surprise ouster

Vuong Dinh Hue is one of four pillars running nation as it balances U.S., China ties

20240408 Vuong Dinh Hue, Chairman of the NA Vietnam  AP23347133801167.jpg

Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue speaks to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the national assembly in Hanoi on Dec. 13, 2023. Hue is one of a handful of officials qualified to replace Vietnam's recently ousted president. © AP

LIEN HOANG, Nikkei staff writer

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vuong Dinh Hue, Vietnam's top legislator and a presidential contender, is making a lengthy trip to China, projecting stability between the world's two biggest communist countries after Hanoi upgraded ties with the U.S. and ousted two presidents in the course of a year.

National Assembly Chair Hue's six-day visit ending Friday will include talks on trade, party relations, tourism, and the "community of common destiny," a concept linked to regional security that China convinced Vietnam to adopt during President Xi Jinping's visit to Hanoi in December. That month Vietnam rose to the rank of No. 2 market for Chinese exports after the U.S., according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, with many of those goods fueling a Vietnamese supply chain alternative to China. 

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