China, Vietnam promise to team up against corruption to ensure ‘clean Silk Road’ projects

Beijing’s anti-corruption drive is now in its second decade, as investigators focus their attention on China’s financial sector, healthcare and the armed forces.

Since coming to power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign has snared tens of thousands of officials.

Li said China is committed to a “clean Silk Road”, referring to the importance of keeping the Belt and Road Initiative, a mammoth global investment project, free of bribery and corruption.

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China and Vietnam’s “traditional friendship” should continue, and through practical cooperation, bilateral relations could reach “higher quality, deeper levels and wider areas”, he added.

China was willing to strengthen coordination with Vietnam on major international and regional issues and safeguard world peace, fairness and justice, Li added.

During his first term as the general secretary, Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong launched his anti-corruption campaign in 2011. A president and two prime ministers have since stepped down, and hundreds of businesspeople and officials have been sacked or imprisoned.

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Analysts say the crackdown – dubbed “blazing furnace” – was motivated by concerns similar to Xi’s that the ruling Communist Party needed to address concerns by foreign investors about integrity. Xi and Trong last met in November 2022.

Tran described the Chinese as his country’s “brothers” and said Vietnam regarded developing relations with China as a strategic choice and top priority in its foreign policy.

“Vietnam is willing to work with China to increase high-level exchanges, enhance political mutual trust, and deepen cooperation in discipline inspection, supervision, and anti-corruption,” Tu said.

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A report from the Singaporean research centre ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute released in May suggested that while Trong’s efforts were the “most comprehensive” in Vietnam’s history, its bureaucratic system had been slow and some critical services, such as medical treatment and vehicle registration, were disrupted.

Still, the Southeast Asian state, which is heavily reliant on foreign trade and investment, has benefited by attracting foreign investors to a fairer business environment by reducing the “informal costs” of doing business.

According to state-run news outlet Vietnam Plus, in the first 10 months of 2023, the value of foreign direct investment in Vietnam surged 54 per cent year on year, attracting more than US$15.29 billion across 2,608 new projects.

South China Morning Post