Beijing, April 15 -- When To Lam first visited China as Vietnam's top leader in August 2024, he began the trip not in Beijing but in Guangzhou -- a special arrangement Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed as "quite meaningful."

In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, a century earlier, Ho Chi Minh, the late Vietnamese leader, began his revolutionary activities in China, a period of history Xi described as "a shared red memory" between the two countries' ruling parties.

Xi will soon travel to Vietnam for a fourth state visit as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president.

The trip coincides with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Vietnam, two socialist neighbors ...