Vietnam has already rail connections to China, but the system is old with limited capacity on the Vietnam side. The upgraded railway would pass through the region where Vietnam has its largest deposits of rare earths, of which China is by far the world's biggest refiner. Chinese and Vietnamese rare earths industry experts discussed last week stronger cooperation on processing the minerals, according to Vietnamese state media. It is unclear how much China would contribute to the upgraded railway track in Vietnam and whether Hanoi would accept sizeable financing from Beijing on this. A strengthened railway link could also boost Vietnam's export to China, mostly of agriculture products, boost Chinese tourism to northern Vietnam and further integrate the two countries' manufacturing industries, which experts already consider as symbiotic, with factories in Vietnam largely assembling components produced in China.

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Persons: Xi Jinping, Vietnam's, Wang Yi, Tran, Pham Minh Chinh, Wang Wentao, Francesco Guarascio, Khanh Vu, Phuong Nguyen, Stephen Coates Organizations: Vietnam's, China's Commerce, Initiative, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Hanoi, China, Haiphong China, Vietnam, HANOI, United States, Tran Luu Quang, Kunming, Haiphong, Beijing, China . China, Hong Kong, Washington, South