Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese People's Army Nguyen Khac Nghien during their meet in Beijing, on December 1, 2008. [Gao Jie/Xinhua]

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Monday pledged joint efforts with Vietnam to settle disagreements, and he also pledged to step up the bilateral strategic partnership.

In a meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese People's Army Nguyen Khac Nghien, Xi urged both sides to cherish the traditional friendship nurtured by leaders of previous generations, including the late Chinese top leader Mao Zedong and the late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.

Consolidating and deepening the China-Vietnam strategic partnership will satisfy the fundamental interests and common wishes of the two countries and peoples, he added.

Nguyen Khac Nghien said it is a priority of Vietnam's foreign policy to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. Vietnam would firmly adhere to the one-China policy.

He added that the Vietnamese side is ready to strengthen exchanges with China in various aspects, cementing relations between the two countries and two armed forces.

Referring to China's peaceful development, Xi told the Vietnamese official that China is firmly committed to peaceful development, to an opening-up strategy of mutual benefit and win-win progress, and to regional and world peace, stability and development.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2008)