Chinese President Xi and Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's Communist Party chief, address young people from both countries in Beijing, April 4, 2015. [Photo by Wu Zhiyi / China Daily]?

HANOI - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Thursday, kicking off a two-day state visit to the neighboring country.

It is Xi's first visit to Vietnam as China's head of state and top leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

His trip signals an improving relationship between Beijing and Hanoi.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is at the invitation of Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Xi will leave Vietnam on Friday to make his first state visit to Singapore at the invitation of Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam. The visit will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

He will meet with Tan and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and also attend signing ceremonies for cooperation agreements.