Viet Nam, China cooperate to tackle environmental challenges

Leading the delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Minister Tran Duc Thang shared with Minister Huang Runqiu the positive relationship between Vietnam and China over the past years. 

“We are very eager to exchange experiences on social management and China’s approaches, thereby contributing to our country’s development and fostering solidarity and friendship with China,” Minister Tran Duc Thang told Minister Huang Runqiu.

Highlighting China’s remarkable achievements in improving environmental quality in recent years, Minister Tran Duc Thang expressed his desire to learn from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China in order to advise the Government and guide localities in environmental management and protection.

“Vietnam has a small land area but a large population, with some places having dense residential areas, factories, and facilities that are sources of pollution. Therefore, alongside promoting economic development, Vietnam is also very focused on improving the environment, especially air pollution, to provide a better life for its people,” the head of Vietnam’s agriculture and environment sector added.

With this approach, Minister Tran Duc Thang hopes to gain insights not only on policy-making but also on China’s methods for organizing and implementing environmental initiatives.

Enhancing Party committees role

According to Mr. Huang Runqiu, after the 2012 Party Congress, the concept of “Clear rivers and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver” introduced by General Secretary Xi Jinping placed environmental protection as a central priority for the central government.

Ten years ago, China’s economic growth was very strong, but General Secretary Xi Jinping was insightful in emphasizing the need to balance economic development with environmental protection. “The General Secretary shared his approach from his time working in Zhejiang and Fujian,” Minister Huang Runqiu noted.

He explained that General Secretary Xi highlighted the dialectical relationships showing that environmental protection safeguards productive capacity and drives economic growth.

Over the past ten years, China’s GDP has continued to grow while air and environmental quality have improved, with the number of heavily polluted days reduced by 92% annually. According to Mr. Huang Runqiu, this milestone and achievement stem from Xi Jinping’s perspective that “Clear rivers and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver.”

In terms of mechanisms, in 2015 China thoroughly revised the Environmental Protection Law, expanding it from 57 articles to over 120 articles. These provisions are detailed, strict, and strictly enforced.

Additionally, the Party has regulations holding the heads of Party committees accountable if violations occur or environmental protection targets are not met. Accountability is enforced not only within the Party but also through administrative measures.

In addition, the central government has established a monitoring mechanism on environmental issues involving localities and ministries. “For example, in 2025, China set up 10 inspection teams to visit 8 provinces and 2 ministries to check on this issue,” Mr. Huang Runqiu explained.

This approach has been highly effective. Over the past 10 years of implementation, the awareness of Party committees has fundamentally changed, and local actions in enforcing central directives on environmental protection have become more decisive.

Moreover, China has established a series of standards related to ecological and environmental protection. These standards play a key role in raising awareness and reducing polluting behaviors among enterprises.

Improving air quality

Regarding air quality, Minister Huang Runqiu stated that China has issued three regulations covering numerous provisions on the management of water, air, and soil environments. By 2017, China launched a campaign to protect air quality, which continues to this day.

Specifically, coal was identified as a major source of pollution, so managing enterprises that use coal has been prioritized. Coal-fired power plants are required to upgrade their facilities to meet emission standards equivalent to those of plants using liquefied gas.

To achieve this, China provides financial support for enterprises, and so far 95% of coal-fired power plants have been upgraded. In addition, this mechanism is applied to major polluting industries such as steel production, cement manufacturing, and other high-emission sectors.

From a livelihood perspective, people in northern China used to rely heavily on coal for heating in winter, but they have now switched to electricity or gas.

"So far, China has carried out upgrades for more than 41 million households, equivalent to a rural population of 200 million in northern provinces," said Mr. Huang Runqiu. In urban areas, the solution is centralized heating, and today Beijing has become a coal-free city.

Alongside these measures, China has invested heavily in science and technology to study emission patterns and improve the scientific basis for ecological and environmental protection.

Moreover, the government has established financial mechanisms to attract enterprises to participate in research on environmental protection technologies. China is also actively developing a carbon market and has now created the largest carbon market in the world.

In response to the sharing by China’s Minister of Ecology and Environment, Minister Tran Duc Thang noted that China’s entire political system has been mobilized to achieve the positive results in environmental protection and improvement seen today.

“This is a very important experience for the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to study, learn from, and report to higher authorities for implementation planning,” Minister Tran Duc Thang added.

Within the framework of the meeting, Minister Tran Duc Thang and Minister Huang Runqiu also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in ecological and environmental fields between China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.