China's President Jiang Zemin is in Vietnam for a three-day visit aimed at strengthening military and economic ties between the former enemies.

Hundreds of school children waved Chinese and Vietnamese flags as Mr. Jiang's plane landed today (Wednesday) at Hanoi's airport.

Later in the day, the Chinese leader met with Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and Communist Party leader Nong Duc Manh. The leaders signed an agreement that calls for China to lend about six million dollars to Vietnam for development projects. They also pledged greater technical cooperation.

Few other major agreements are expected to result from the talks, in part because Mr. Jiang retires later this year. But the visit to expected to pave the way for greater military cooperation as well as discussions on trade.

Relations between China and Vietnam have steadily improved since the former rivals normalized diplomatic ties in 1991. The wto countries fought a bloody war in 1979 after Vietnam invaded Cambodia to oust the Beijing-backed Khmer Rouge regime.

(johnson cr, prev)

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