About 18 hours ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip here, at the Tam Vi, a Michelin-star Vietnamese restaurant, a group of young Chinese entrepreneurs were discussing the prospects of his historic visit on Dec 12-13.
"It would be good for my business," said a bald man with a cigarette in hand. Others agreed. "It is all great," said another.
Overall, Mr Xi's two-day visit last week yielded more results beyond trade and investment as both countries have further cemented and boosted their ties to a level never seen before.
Despite their disagreements and disputes, China and Vietnam, for the past 15 years, have managed their friendship quite well, nurturing their unique, comprehensive, strategic cooperative partnership in ways that no other countries could imitate.
The countries have now attained a trust level to top up relations with a common resolution that they are ready to build a China-Vietnam community of a "shared future" that carries strategic significance.
In fact, in the Chinese language, Ming yun cong tong ti, has a deeper meaning as it encompasses all future multifaceted developments and engagement as if they are sharing the same destiny.
Reading the 5,978-word joint China-Vietnam statement carefully, one can see the most important paragraph containing 59-words appeared on the front page describing their special mutual relationship.
The two sides stress that they are "good neighbours, good friends, good comrades, and good partners, and both are socialist countries under the leadership of a communist party, with similar political regimes, compatible ideology and beliefs, similar development paths, a shared vision, shared future, and common efforts for happy people and a wealthy and strong country and for the noble cause of peace and progress of mankind".
Indeed, such a comprehensive prognosis of bilateral ties is rare these days.
Mr Xi's visit was successful because it came at a time of great fluidity in the geopolitical landscape as countries, big or small, are trying to navigate relations in more balanced ways.
China and Vietnam have special relations with the US. It is imperative that these two neighbouring countries understand each other's thinking and understanding of the US ties, as it impacts their bilateral relations. Three months ago, US President Joe Biden was in Hanoi and upgraded their relations to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership too.
Obviously, at this juncture, both superpowers are courting Vietnam. However, judging from the substantive outcomes of the two-day trip, China and Vietnam wanted their future relations stable and predictable. Truth be told, both socialist neighbours are equally anxious about what will become of their ties with Western countries and democracies in the years to come. They want to avoid any negative spill-over effects. Mr Xi's trip here bore testimony of such a pathway.
To understand the dynamics of Chinese-Vietnamese ties within the Asian context, three important points must be discerned:
First, both nations are the two most successful communist countries operating in the capitalist-dominated world. The way they practice and implement their common ideologies has distinguished the two neighbours from the rest of the world. Indeed, their economic progress in the past four decades has dazzled democratic and capitalistic allies and friends. Their pragmatism has brought prosperity and stability to their people. Indeed, their combined economic and strategic clouts have already left strong impressions in the regional and global community.
Secondly, apart from a shared Marxist ideology, the two countries also share common borders, history, tradition, culture, and language, with their bond and friendship dating back thousands of years. One has to live in Vietnam to realise that Chinese-Vietnamese relations have deeper roots and are intertwined beyond what the conventional knowledge holds.
Thirdly, more than officials would like to admit, their "shared future" will be stronger and more sustainable if they can further support each other and strengthen their cooperation in all areas. In other words, with the new resolutions enshrined in the joint statement they have the toolkit needed to deepen ties and avoid harming each other. Under current circumstances, with their socialist systems imbued with Chinese and Vietnamese characteristics, either side can afford a backsliding of fraternal ties.
Beijing and Hanoi last week signed 36 agreements that will bolster cooperation in fields including crime prevention, multilateral trade, transportation and digital economy, cyber security, and telecoms, among others. The two sides called for cooperation between Vietnam's "Two Corridors, One Belt" framework for connectivity with China's Belt and Road infrastructure development programme. Furthermore, the two leaders also signed a memorandum of understanding on enhancing cooperation in the digital economy and digital data.
As far as the region is concerned, Vietnam's support of China's three global initiatives -- Global Security Initiative (GSI), Global Developmental Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative -- is very significant as it will have a positive impact on Asean.
Overall, Asean supports the development and civil proposals. However, several Asean members have yet to endorse the GSI as some of them have agreed to do further studies.
During the discussion over maritime and territorial disputes, both countries stressed the need to better manage and actively address differences at sea. It was also important to note that the two countries would actively seek basic and long-term solutions acceptable to both sides under the framework of the China-Vietnam agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues and international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Furthermore, the two countries agreed to implement the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea. Besides the maritime disputes, both sides also discussed how to combat phone scammers as well as further cooperation in cyber security.
In his signed article in the Nhan Dan Daily, Mr Xi described China-Vietnam ties, reiterating that regardless of the changes in the global environment, their countries have worked together to protect peace and tranquillity, pursue development and cooperation, and promote prosperity and progress. All things considered, from now on, their ties will be more forward-looking and strategic.