Vietnam - China: Taking legal and judicial cooperation to new heights

Implementing the common perception of the high-ranking leaders of Vietnam and China expressed in the Joint Statements (most recently the 2022 Joint Statement on the occasion of the official visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and the 2023 Joint Statement on the occasion of the official visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping), implementing the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries' Ministries of Justice in 2022 and the Cooperation Plan between the two countries' Ministries of Justice in the period of 2024-2025; At the invitation of Comrade Le Thanh Long - Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Secretary of the Party Committee, Minister of Justice of Vietnam, Comrade Ha Vinh - Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Member of the Central Political and Legal Commission, Deputy Director of the Office of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Law-Based Governance of the Country, Secretary of the Party Committee, Minister of Justice of China and the delegation of the Ministry of Justice of China visited and worked in Vietnam from April 18 to 21, 2024.
This is also the first visit to Vietnam by a Chinese Minister of Justice. The visit takes place in the context of cooperation in the field of law and justice being mentioned for the first time in a separate section with quite rich content in the Vietnam-China Joint Statement 2023 (Joint Statement 2023). Specifically, the Joint Statement 2023 clearly stated:
“The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the legal and judicial fields, creating a legal basis for comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and China in all fields; actively implement the obligations of international treaties to which both sides are members. Effectively implement the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China on mutual legal assistance in civil and criminal matters, the Extradition Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China; promote the effective implementation of the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China on the transfer of sentenced persons; promote the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the two countries' Ministries of Justice to achieve substantive results, jointly perfect the mechanism for mutual legal assistance between the two sides; study the establishment of methods for resolving civil and border trade disputes; promote legal and judicial cooperation in localities sharing a common border in appropriate forms”.
Further enhance the effectiveness of cooperation between the two Ministries of Justice
At the meeting between the two Ministers of Justice, Minister Le Thanh Long congratulated the great and historic achievements that the Party, State and People of China have achieved, especially the outstanding achievements in the past 10 years since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and congratulated China on successfully organizing the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress to determine the goals, directions and tasks for socio-economic development in 2024 and the next period, as well as deciding on important issues regarding China's development. At the same time, Minister Le Thanh Long congratulated and highly appreciated the contributions of the Chinese Ministry of Justice in its role as the Standing Body of the Commission for Comprehensive Law-Based Governance of the Country of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in the cause of building a "Socialist Rule of Law State" in China.
Minister Le Thanh Long also provided preliminary information on Vietnam's socio-economic situation in the first quarter of 2024, and introduced the general guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the field of building and perfecting the socialist rule-of-law state as reflected in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress and Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW dated November 9, 2022 of the 13th Party Central Committee. Accordingly, the goal is to build a "Democratic, fair, humane, complete, synchronous, unified, timely, feasible, public, transparent, stable, accessible legal system by 2030, paving the way for innovation, sustainable development and a strict and consistent law enforcement mechanism", focusing on "Perfecting the legal system and a strict and consistent law enforcement mechanism; ensuring respect for the Constitution and the law; "Improving the quality of legal human resources" with the task of "Continuing to perfect the legal system and the mechanism for organizing strict and effective law implementation, ensuring the requirements of rapid and sustainable national development; Innovating the law enforcement mechanism, closely linking law-making with law implementation, ensuring that the law is implemented fairly, strictly, consistently, promptly, effectively and efficiently".
In the coming time, the implementation of Resolution 27-NQ/TW poses many new requirements and tasks for the Ministry and the Judicial Branch of Vietnam. In this context, cooperation and sharing of knowledge and experience from countries around the world is an objective need, especially the experience of China - a neighboring country with a long history in legal and judicial work, with many similarities with Vietnam in terms of ideological foundation, goals of building socialism, politics, economics, culture and society.
Agreeing with Minister Le Thanh Long, Minister Ha Vinh briefly introduced the guidelines and policies of the Communist Party of China in the field of law and justice; the functions and tasks of the Ministry of Justice of China; the functions and tasks of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Law-Based Governance of the Country; and briefly introduced some initial initiatives of the Ministry of Justice of China in promoting regional cooperation. Minister Ha Vinh said that Vietnam has achieved many results in the process of building and perfecting the socialist rule of law state and this is an important premise for the two sides to exchange and learn from each other's experiences.
Regarding the legal and judicial cooperation between Vietnam and China, the two Ministers highly appreciated the efforts of the two countries' Ministries of Justice to negotiate and sign two important cooperation documents in the past time. On October 31, 2022, during the official visit to China by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the two Ministries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the legal field, replacing the previously signed cooperation document, the Protocol of Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of the People's Republic of China in 1997. In this Memorandum of Understanding, the two sides agreed to exchange experiences in law-making, checking legal documents and organizing law enforcement; exchange experiences in: Dissemination and education of law; Mediation at the grassroots level; Legal aid; Management of lawyers and notaries; Handling of administrative violations; Legal reform, building a rule-of-law state; Application of information technology in law-making, building and operating legal databases; Promote the effective implementation of the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China signed on October 19, 1998 in Beijing; Coordinate activities at multilateral organizations and forums on legal and judicial cooperation; Encourage the expansion of legal and judicial cooperation between local Justice Departments in the border areas of the two countries.
On the basis of the new Memorandum of Understanding, the two Ministries of Justice agreed and signed the Cooperation Program for 2024-2025 (signed on December 8, 2023 during the official visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and President Xi Jinping). Specifically, in 2024, the two sides will coordinate to organize 1 Ministry-level Delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice to China, 1 Department-level Delegation of the Chinese Ministry of Justice to Vietnam and 1 online conference; in 2025, the two sides will coordinate to organize the first Conference of judicial agencies of provinces sharing the Vietnam-China border in China, 1 Department-level Delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice to China and 1 online conference.
The two Ministers also requested that specialized units under the Ministry of Justice of the two countries actively coordinate to effectively implement these cooperation documents and periodically review and evaluate the results and effectiveness of cooperation activities to propose to the leaders of the Ministry of Justice of each country solutions to further improve the effectiveness of cooperation. Regarding the form of cooperation, it is recommended that the two sides be flexible in accordance with the actual situation, combining direct activities (exchanging working delegations, coordinating the organization of joint seminars and workshops, sending officials to attend seminars and workshops organized by the other side, etc.) with online activities (organizing working sessions, seminars and online seminars; sharing information and documents via electronic means, etc.).
The first Vietnam - China Border Provinces Judicial Conference will be held in 2025
Immediately after the end of the talks, the two Ministers signed an Agreement on organizing the first Conference between judicial agencies of provinces sharing the Vietnam-China border (to be held in China in 2025). According to this Agreement, the expected contents of the Conference will include: law making, lawyer management, notarization, judicial expertise, mediation, arbitration, legal aid, legal dissemination and education, judicial assistance in civil and commercial matters and proposing solutions to promote better implementation of these tasks in the coming time, building a roadmap to promote cooperation between the two Ministries of Justice and between local judicial agencies of the two countries. The Judicial Conference mechanism of provinces sharing the Vietnam-China border will be held every two years on a rotating basis to promote legal and judicial cooperation between localities in the border areas of the two countries as well as between the two Ministries of Justice, sharing experiences in better performing judicial work within the functions and tasks of each side.
On the same day, according to the visit's schedule, Minister Ha Vinh will meet with the Minister of Public Security; meet with the Head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission and greet the Prime Minister.
It is hoped that with this historic visit of the Chinese Minister of Justice, the legal and judicial cooperation between the two countries' Ministries of Justice will be increasingly strengthened in a more in-depth, effective and practical direction, contributing to deepening the Vietnam-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, realizing the goal of "being good neighbors, good friends, connected by mountains and rivers, being good comrades, good partners with the same aspirations, sharing a common destiny, and working together for the happiness of the people, a prosperous country and the noble cause of peace and development of mankind" (Vietnam-China Joint Statement 2022) and "Vietnam-China Community of Shared Future" according to the Vietnam-China Joint Statement 2023.
Promoting cooperation in the field of local law and justice between Vietnam and China
On the morning of June 13, 2024, at the Ministry of Justice Headquarters, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Khanh Ngoc had a meeting with Director of the Department of Justice of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guangxi Department of Justice) Li Daojun and a delegation of officials from the Department of Justice of Guangxi, China, who visited and worked in Vietnam.
At the reception, Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc welcomed the Director of the Department of Justice of Guangxi, China, emphasizing that the friendly neighborly relationship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China are developing well and achieving many important results in various fields, while emphasizing that the legal and judicial fields between Vietnam and China always receive the attention of the Party and State leaders. This has been agreed by the top leaders of the two countries and recognized in the Vietnam - China Joint Statements in November 2022 and December 2023, specifically: "The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in the legal and judicial fields, creating a legal basis for comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and China in various fields; actively implement the obligations of international treaties to which both sides are members. Effectively implement the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China on Judicial Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters, the Extradition Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China; promote the effective implementation of the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People's Republic of China on the Transfer of Convicted Persons; promote the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries to achieve substantive results, jointly perfect the judicial assistance mechanism between the two sides; study the establishment of methods for resolving civil and border trade disputes; promote legal and judicial cooperation in localities sharing a common border in appropriate forms.”
In recent times, the cooperative relationship between the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of China has developed very positively. The two Ministries have signed important cooperation documents, serving as a basis for implementing specific cooperation activities, including: Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the legal field (signed on October 31, 2022 during the official visit to China by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong) replacing the Cooperation Protocol between the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of China in 1997; Cooperation Program for 2024-2025 (signed on December 8, 2023 during the official visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and President Xi Jinping). On that basis, in 2024, the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam organized a reception and working session with the delegation of the Minister of Justice of China led by Minister Ha Vinh to visit and work in Vietnam from 18-21/2024. This visit is of great significance, opening a new page in the history of cooperation between the two Ministries and branches of Justice, creating momentum to promote the strong development of legal and judicial cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries, contributing to consolidating and developing the good and comprehensive friendly cooperation between the two Parties and States of Vietnam and China.
On this occasion, the Deputy Minister introduced the functions, organizational structure and key tasks of the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the system of local judicial agencies, and informed about the Plan to organize the first Judicial Conference of provinces sharing the Vietnam - China border, scheduled for 2025 in China according to the Agreement signed between the two Ministries of Justice during the recent visit of Minister of Justice Ha Vinh. The Deputy Minister suggested that the Department of Justice of Guangxi, China continue to closely coordinate with the Departments of Justice of Vietnam sharing the border to actively participate in the preparation of this Conference to promote cooperation, enhance exchanges, share experiences in implementing local judicial work, and coordinate in handling legal and judicial issues of people and businesses in border areas.
Agreeing with Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc, Director of the Department of Justice of Guangxi, China Ly Dao Quan affirmed that he will continue to promote cooperation activities with the local Department of Justice of Vietnam and relevant legal and judicial agencies to be more and more practical and effective, first of all, coordinating to successfully organize the first Judicial Conference of provinces sharing the Vietnam - China border in China, contributing to strengthening cooperation in the field of law and justice in general and cooperation between localities in particular, deepening the Vietnam - China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the common perception of the two countries' senior leaders on the Vietnam - China Community of Shared Future.