State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who outranks the foreign minister, will arrive in Vietnam on Monday for meetings with Vietnam Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two would discuss "Sino-Vietnam bilateral cooperation", the ministry said. It did not elaborate.
Yang last went to Vietnam in June when he accused it of "hyping up" the row over the Chinese drilling rig in waters close to Vietnam but claimed by China.
The dispute lead to confrontation at sea between Chinese and Vietnamese government vessels and violent anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam, in one of the worst breakdowns in their relations since they fought a brief war in 1979.
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