CHINESE President Xi Jinping began a state visit to Vietnam yesterday that was hailed as a “new step forward” in bilateral relations.
Mr Xi flew from the Vietnamese city of Da Nang, where he attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, to the capital Hanoi.
He was welcomed by Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
The cancelled China trip of the German Foreign Minister marks a break with Helmut Schmidt’s China policy and drives Germany further into Washington’s confrontation course, warns SEVIM DAGDELEN
KEVAN NELSON reports back from a delegation to the epic celebrations for the anniversary of Vietnam’s 1945 revolution, where British communists found a thriving, prosperous socialist country, brimming with ambition and well-earned national pride



