CHINA’s President Xi Jinping begins a two-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday to build a “community with shared future”, three months after US President Joe Biden travelled to Hanoi as the major powers vie for influence in the Southeast Asian nation.

The trip, Xi’s first in six years, has been months in planning and was even briefly considered to take place days before Biden’s visit, according to officials.

It aims to boost relations between the two Communist-ruled countries which have very close economic ties but are at odds over boundaries in the South China Sea and have a millennia-long history of frequent conflict.

The visit has been delayed also because of prolonged discussions over how to phrase the countries’ enhanced bilateral relations, which Beijing wants to be framed as “shared destiny,” a reference that Hanoi has resisted but is expected to have eventually accepted, according to officials and diplomats.

In an opinion article published on the newspaper of the Vietnamese Communist party ahead of his visit, Xi said a “community with a shared future” between the two countries would carry strategic significance.

Beyond the symbolism of elevating ties to a notch that Beijing may see as being above the US-Vietnam relationship, the upgraded status comes with the signature of “dozens of cooperation documents,” according to China’s ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo, as reported by Vietnamese state newspaper Tuoi Tre before the visit.

Among the expected deals are Chinese investments to upgrade rail links between the two neighbours, which would include grants, although the volume of aid is not clear and neither is the amount and terms of possible loans.

Both countries have expressed interest in boosting transport connections. Vietnam is willing to export more to China, especially farm products, and Beijing wants to integrate northern Vietnam further into its southern supply chain networks.