BEIJING, Aug 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Vietnam's new top leader To Lam met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, in his first overseas trip since being named general secretary of the country's Communist Party.

Xi welcomed Lam with a military parade outside the Great Hall of the People, before the pair held talks and signed cooperation documents inside the state building off Tiananmen Square.

"As the two ruling communist parties in the world today, China and Vietnam should uphold the original spirit of friendship, continue the traditional friendship... and continue to deepen the strategically important Sino-Vietnamese shared community of destiny," Xi told Lam.

Congratulating Lam, Xi said that if the two countries adhered to a "common endeavour of promoting the cause of world socialism, we believe that our road will be wider and wider."

Lam said Xi had guided China to become a "strong and prosperous country", and lauded him for developing Beijing's "role towards peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world".

Lam was formally named Vietnam's leader earlier this month, pledging to "speed up" a sweeping anti-graft campaign that has snared thousands.

His ascension came two weeks after the death of Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades, who presided over the so-called "blazing furnace" crackdown on corruption.

Lam had already assumed the largely ceremonial role of president in May after his predecessor resigned in the face of the vast anti-graft purge.

But now as the Communist Party of Vietnam's general secretary, Lam is the most powerful figure in the country's leadership structure.

His three-day trip to China has already taken him to the southern city of Guangzhou.

Last December, China and Vietnam pledged to deepen bilateral ties when Xi visited the country, his first time there in six years.

That trip came after Vietnam and the United States upgraded diplomatic ties during US President Joe Biden's visit in September.

Vietnam has long pursued a "bamboo diplomacy" approach, striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.