Vietnam and Japan established their diplomatic ties on September 21, 1973. In 1995, Japan was the first G7 country to welcome the Party General Secretary of Vietnam to the country. In 2009, Japan was the first country to establish a strategic partnership with Vietnam. In 2011, Japan recognized Vietnam’s market economy status. In the state-level visit to Japan by President Truong Tan Sang in March 2014, the two countries upgraded their relationship to an extensive strategic partnership, for peace and prosperity of Asia.

In recent years, the Vietnam-Japan relationship has been developing comprehensively on the basis of high political trust. High-level leaders of the two countries have regularly met at international and regional events and forums.

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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and his Japanese counterpart Abe Shinzo

In details, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo visited Vietnam four times (in 2006, 2013, and twice in 2017). President of the House of Councilors of the National Diet of Japan Masaaki Yamazaki visited Vietnam in 2015. Crown Prince of Japan Naruhito (now the Emperor) paid an official visit to Vietnam in 2009. Japanese Emperor Akishino (having abdicated now) officially visited Vietnam in 1999 and visited Vietnam personally in 2012.

As for the Vietnamese side, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (now Secretary General and State President) visited Japan in 2015. State President Tran Dai Quang paid a state-level visit to Japan in 2018. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited Japan and attended the expanded G7 meeting in 2016. He also paid an official visit to the country in 2017 and joined the high-level Mekong-Japan summit in 2018. He attended the high-level G20 meeting in 2019. Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan officially visited Japan in 2012.

The two sides are now operating several important cooperation mechanisms. They include the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee; the Vietnam-Japan Deputy Foreign Ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue Partnership on Diplomacy, Security and Defense; the Vietnam-Japan Defense Policy Dialogue at the Deputy Ministerial-level; the Security Dialogue at the Deputy Ministerial-level; the Joint Commission on Trade, Energy and Industry; and the Ministerial-level Agricultural Dialogue.

Regarding economic cooperation, Japan is an important economic partner, the largest ODA provider, the second biggest investor (in terms of accumulated value), and the fourth largest trading partner of Vietnam (as of 2018). The two countries offered each other the most-favored-nation status in 1999. The total bilateral import-export turnover in the first nine months of 2019 reached USD 29.16 billion (up by 5.6% compared to the same period last year). Meanwhile the two-way export value reached USD 14.98 billion (up by 8% compared to the same period in 2018) and the import value reached USD 14.18 billion (increasing by 3.3% in comparison with the same period in 2018). By September 2019, Japan had been operating 4,291 FDI projects in Vietnam with a total registered investment value of USD 60.36 billion, ranking second among 132 countries and territories with investment projects in Vietnam.

Japan is also the biggest provider of loans in its currency (Japanese yen - JPY) for Vietnam, totaling JPY 2,519 billion, or equivalent to USD 23.76 billion (as of January, 2019), accounting for 26.5% of the total foreign loans registered by the Vietnamese Government.

Vietnam and Japan have actively promoted cooperation in such areas as agriculture, response to climate change, labor, education, tourism, etc. The two countries have also strongly promoted cooperation between their localities. At present, there have been more than 40 pairs of Vietnamese and Japanese localities signing cooperation agreements.

The overseas Vietnamese community in Japan consists of about 330,000 people living, working and studying in 47 provinces and cities of Japan, mostly in Tokyo and the provinces of Aichi, Saitama, and Osaka.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito took over the throne on May 1, 2019 and that started the new era of Reiwa. That the coronation ceremony of Emperor Naruhito is held solemnly and numerous leaders of countries and international organizations have been invited to the ceremony has proven that this is a special event.

The presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the coronation ceremony shows the great importance that Vietnam attaches to its extensive strategic partnership with Japan and the remarkable developments in the bilateral relationship. It also represents the country’s desire to maintain a good relationship with the Emperor and Imperial Family of Japan.

The attendance of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the coronation ceremony will contribute to affirming the foreign policy and guideline set by the 12th National Party Congress while promoting the image of Vietnam as a dynamically-developing, reliable and responsible partner in the international community.

Translated by Huu Duong