Note, the lib directory as well as the perl.dll has been copied over to VS output directory from the previously created and installed perl interpreter

That seems a rather odd thing to do. Ensuring that the directory that houses the perl.dll is in the PATH is normally all that's needed.

Is VS2017 community edition suitable for building a 64bit embedded perl interpreter?

I would expect so, but I haven't tested.

If so, are there some recommendations on how to do this?

Yes, perlembed.

If not, might using mingw toolchain create an embedded perl...

Yes.

However, I too strike issues with your C code. Not sure where you got it from, but the current perlembed docs present it slightly differently.
Here's what I get (with mingw built perl-5.30.0) when I use the C code provided by the perl-5.30.0 perlembed docs:

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>type embed.c

#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>

static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;

int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env) {
  PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
  my_perl = perl_alloc();
  perl_construct(my_perl);
  PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
  perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, (char **)NULL);
  perl_run(my_perl);
  perl_destruct(my_perl);
  perl_free(my_perl);
  PERL_SYS_TERM();
  exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}


C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts
  -s -O2 -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -DCONSERVATIVE  -DPERL_TEXTMODE_SCRIPTS -DPER
+L_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -D__USE_MINGW_ANS
+I_STDIO -fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -mms-bitfields  -I"C:\_64\perl53
+0_810\lib\CORE"

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts
  -s -L"C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE" -L"C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\l
+ib"  "C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE\libperl530.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810
+\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmoldname.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\
+mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libkernel32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\m
+ingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libuser32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\ming
+w64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libgdi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\
+x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libwinspool.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x
+86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomdlg32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x8
+6_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libadvapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86
+_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libshell32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_6
+4-w64-mingw32\lib\libole32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w6
+4-mingw32\lib\liboleaut32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64
+-mingw32\lib\libnetapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-
+mingw32\lib\libuuid.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw
+32\lib\libws2_32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\
+lib\libmpr.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\li
+bwinmm.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libver
+sion.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbc3
+2.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbccp32
+.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomctl32.
+a"
[download]

Now create the executable (embed.exe):

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>gcc -o embed.exe embed.c -s -O2 -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -D
+CONSERVATIVE  -DPERL_TEXTMODE_SCRIPTS -DPERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_
+IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -D__USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO -fwrapv -fno-stric
+t-aliasing -mms-bitfields  -I"C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE"   -s -L"C:
+\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE" -L"C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\lib"  "C:\
+_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE\libperl530.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\
+x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmoldname.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x
+86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libkernel32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x8
+6_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libuser32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_6
+4-w64-mingw32\lib\libgdi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w6
+4-mingw32\lib\libwinspool.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64
+-mingw32\lib\libcomdlg32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-
+mingw32\lib\libadvapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-m
+ingw32\lib\libshell32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-min
+gw32\lib\libole32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32
+\lib\liboleaut32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\
+lib\libnetapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\l
+ib\libuuid.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\li
+bws2_32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmp
+r.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libwinmm.a"
+ "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libversion.a" "
+C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbc32.a" "C:\
+_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbccp32.a" "C:\_
+64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomctl32.a"
[download]

Now test it:

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>embed -le "print 'hello';"
hello

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>type hello.pl
use strict;
use warnings;

print "hello\n";

C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>embed hello.pl
hello
[download]

So it all seems to be working as advertised once your C code is modified correctly.

Cheers,
Rob