From October 12 to 14, Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Vietnam, holding talks with Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary and State President, Nguyen Phu Trong, as well as with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Vietnamese media provided detailed coverage of Li Qiang's visit.

According to reports from the Vietnam News Agency, Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized that "Vietnam regards the development of relations with China as a top priority in its foreign policy," while Li Qiang stated that his visit aimed to "implement the consensus recently reached by the top leaders of the two parties and countries, discuss advancing the comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership between China and Vietnam, and bring the China-Vietnam community of shared destiny to a new stage of development with more substantive results."

Interestingly, the two sides also exchanged updates on the current situation in their respective parties and countries. Given that Nguyen Phu Trong visited Beijing just two months ago in August, what new developments could they have to report? Or could this mainly refer to internal changes within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

During the talks, Nguyen Phu Trong and Li Qiang agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and regular interactions at all levels, promote synchronized and efficient development of party diplomacy, state diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy, and push for further cooperation in areas such as national defense, security, and foreign affairs. Additionally, they emphasized the need to "enhance the quality and efficiency of economic and trade cooperation" and strengthen collaboration between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Vietnam’s "Two Corridors, One Belt" framework. Regarding maritime issues, both sides reached a consensus on the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.

Based on reports from the Vietnam News Agency, Li Qiang appeared to be playing a role beyond that of a typical premier, discussing and finalizing comprehensive cooperation matters with Vietnam’s top leader, including cooperation on maritime issues. His subsequent meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh seemed more focused on specific issues.

Turning to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, their report on Li Qiang’s meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong first mentioned Li Qiang conveying Xi Jinping’s "warm greetings" to Trong, emphasizing that in August, "the top leaders of the two parties and countries met in Beijing and set the direction for the development of bilateral relations." The report mainly focused on furthering economic and trade cooperation and mentioned Trong asking Li Qiang to convey his regards to Xi Jinping. The same message was repeated in the coverage of Li Qiang's meeting with Pham Minh Chinh.

However, Xinhua News Agency deliberately downplayed certain aspects of the Vietnam News Agency’s report. For instance, the Vietnamese report highlighted that Nguyen Phu Trong and Li Qiang agreed to "maintain high-level exchanges and regular interactions at all levels, promote party diplomacy, state diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy, and push forward cooperation in defense, security, and foreign affairs, as well as effectively address non-traditional security challenges." Xinhua chose to omit this information, only mentioning "close high-level exchanges and enhanced strategic communication."

This suggests that while Vietnamese media portrayed Li Qiang as playing a significant role in shaping bilateral relations, Chinese media sought to emphasize Xi Jinping's leadership and downplay any impression that Li Qiang might be stepping beyond his role. This selective reporting could indicate underlying political dynamics within the CCP, as Li Qiang's prominence during his visit to Vietnam subtly contrasts with the portrayal of Xi Jinping as the supreme leader in China's official narrative.

A comparison of how Vietnam’s news agency (VNA) and China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported on the same event reveals an interesting discrepancy. It seems that Chinese state media is intentionally downplaying the special attention given to Li Qiang during his visit to Vietnam. This raises the question: could it be that Vietnam is already aware of some major changes within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

Another event that may further support this idea occurred just before Li Qiang’s visit to Hanoi. From October 9 to 12, a Vietnamese Communist Party delegation, led by Leung Qiang, a member of the Politburo and Executive Secretary of the Central Committee, visited Beijing and was received by both Xi Jinping and Cai Qi. Xinhua’s report on this meeting was titled "Xi Jinping Meets with Leung Qiang, Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Executive Secretary of the Central Committee." In contrast, VNA’s report was titled "The Vietnamese Communist Party Delegation Visits China for Work." Clearly, Vietnam downplayed the significance of this visit and did not highlight Xi Jinping’s meeting with the delegation, which contrasts sharply with their reporting of Li Qiang's visit, suggesting something unusual.

According to VNA, the Vietnamese delegation’s visit was made at the invitation of the CCP and was not initiated by Vietnam. During the talks, Leung Qiang said that the purpose of the visit was to implement the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two countries. He emphasized that Vietnam consistently prioritizes developing relations with China as part of its overall diplomatic strategy. Xi Jinping, on the other hand, stressed that "China views Vietnam as a priority in its neighboring diplomacy and is willing to work with Vietnam to build a China-Vietnam community with strategic significance." These remarks were also made during Li Qiang’s meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, making Leung Qiang's visit appear redundant.

Why then, did the CCP feel the need to arrange this seemingly unnecessary visit? Was it to emphasize Xi Jinping’s importance in China-Vietnam relations, or was it a response to dissatisfaction with Li Qiang’s role during his visit? If so, who is supporting Li Qiang behind the scenes?

Perhaps the answer lies in recent unusual signals from the CCP leadership and the military following the 20th Party Congress. Xi Jinping has been frequently absent from major meetings, and several senior Party figures have reappeared. All signs point to something significant happening within the CCP, despite the leadership’s careful efforts to conceal it. In diplomatic relations, particularly with "friendly" nations like Russia and Vietnam, it’s likely that certain internal matters have been disclosed. Vietnam's reaction may be revealing some of these hidden developments.

Editor: Pu Shan