Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, reached consensus on forging of "four good ties" with Vietnamese leaders at this time of 2005, in which the two countries and their people would become "good neighbors, friends, comrades and partners". Right now, he is again visiting Vietnam and conferring with its leaders on how to spur the "four-good ties" to new heights.

The "good neighbor": - it has three shades of meaning: The first is the bond of "good neighborliness" which, aimed to "make good friends" with neighboring Vietnam and "maintain harmony" with it, has entered into the best period in the past 15 years since the normalization of relations between China and Vietnam in 1991. The second is mutually "to bring peace to the neighbors". The two countries have settled the issue of boundary demarcation on the land and in Beibu Gulf, which, used to be regarded as the "disputed areas beyond settlement", have been turned into the border of friendship and the gulf of cooperation. On the question of South China Sea Dispute, both sides not only abide by the action declaration of all parties involved and carry out a joint seismic prospecting on the defined areas under negotiation, but reached the decision at the China-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in October this year to move toward the direction of the code of conduct by various concerned parties in the South China Sea from their actions declaration. And the third is to "enrich neighbors", with the volume of bilateral trade expected to exceed 15 billion US dollars in 2008.

The "good partners" -To date, there are multi-layer meaning of joint cooperative partnership for the common development objectives of both sides. At the bilateral level, both sides will make cooperative efforts to materialize the "two corridors cycle" strategy to upgrade northern Guangxi's transport hub in line with a proposed set forth by Vietnam. At the second-rate regional level, both sides shall step up their economic cooperation in the sub-Mekong region on one hand and, on the other hand, carry out a viable study on the "trans-Beibu Gulf economic cooperative zone". At the regional level, both sides will work together to set up a China-ASEAN free trade zone so as to jointly advance the East Asian cooperation process.

The "good friends" - The meaning of "friends" implies more to those who make concerted efforts to pull together in time of need or trouble, seek advantage and avoid disadvantage. The growth of Sino-Vietnamese amity ties in the years ahead is manifested mainly in the four following aspects. A. Dodging a conflict of strategic interests. There are unsettled disputes between the two nations, which are both amid the period imbued with protruding contradictions, should step up their political and security cooperation and enhance their strategic mutual trust.

B. Coping with economic risks. Both sides, after having undergoing the financial crisis of the last 1990s, are still faced with all sorts of risks in the course of advancing their modernization and responding to the globalization. Hence, the area for joint exploration into the management of possible economic risks will become the sphere of close cooperation.

C. Responding to social risks. Both sides should improve the viable social and cultural exchange mechanism, reinforce the non-governmental basis for bilateral ties and dissolve social risks, so as to build their respective harmonious society with joint efforts.

D. Guarding against any biological risks. Since "sustained development" is the ultimate goal of bilateral, all-dimensional cooperation, both sides therefore should have the idea of joint management with mutual benefit.

The "good comrades" -- This is a kind of benign relationship based on the common ideal, if "good neighborliness" is based on geographical proximity, "good partnership" is a benign relationship based on cooperation and "good friendship" is a benign relationship based on interests. The word "comrades" refers to those of like mind with a shared, same goal, and both China and Vietnam are now exploring into how to take the socialist road with respective characteristics of their own both in theory and practice. So both nations can be said to advance the good comradeship on the basis of the previous "three good ties" and further develop and carry them forward at the height of comradeship. These are precisely the intrinsic logical relationships between the good neighborliness, partnership, friendship and comradeship, in which the very significance of President and General Secretary Hu Jintao's on-going Vietnam trip perhaps lies.

By People's Daily Online; The author of the article is Zhan Kun, director of the Southeast Asia & Oceania Research Center of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.