Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang is leading a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to the 20th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM-20), the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and related activities in Cebu, the Philippines from October 27-30.
The working trip, at the invitation of Philippine Secretary of National Defence Gilberto Teodoro, is meant to reaffirm Vietnam’s proactive role as an active, responsible ASEAN member in defence-military cooperation and back the Philippines’ 2026 ASEAN chairmanship.
On October 28, on the sidelines of ADMM-20 and the 13th ADMM+, Giang held bilateral meetings with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the defence ministers of Australia, Japan and the Philippines.
During their meeting, Giang and Hegseth welcomed positive progress in Vietnam-US defence cooperation in dialogue, consultations, defence industry, military medicine and, notably, war aftermath remediation.
They shared information and war memorabilia, which carried deep humanitarian significance and supported Vietnam’s “500-day campaign” to speed up the search, recovery and identification of martyrs’ remains.
Giang said he hopes that building on the Limited Scope Project Agreement (LSPA) for the Bien Hoa Airport dioxin remediation project and another project to improve the quality of life for those with disabilities in provinces heavily sprayed with Agent Orange (AO) signed on September 23 by Vietnam’s deputy defence minister and US ambassador, the US will help Vietnam expand support for AO-affected persons with disabilities and deliver on its additional 130 million USD commitment for Bien Hoa. He wished for US support so Vietnam could basically clean up all post-war bomb, mine and explosive ordnance contamination by 2045.
Both sides agreed to keep coordinating and pushing defence ties that match each side’s needs, capacity and interests, contributing to global and regional peace, stability and development.
The Vietnamese side welcomed the US Department of War’s plan to bring modern defence equipment to the third Vietnam International Defence Expo in Hanoi on December 10-13.
At a meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, the two sides said Vietnam-Australia defence ties are growing, led by exchanges at all levels, especially at the high level; dialogues and consultations, United Nations peacekeeping, military medicine, navy; and experience sharing. This reflects mutual goodwill and efforts to make cooperation more substantive, they said.
Giang thanked the Australian Department of Defence for continuing to provide aircraft to help Vietnam transport Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 8 to the UN mission in South Sudan.
He proposed that the two sides keep up with the agreed cooperation, focusing on delegation exchanges, naval cooperation, search and rescue, post-war remediation and mutual support at international and regional multilateral forums.
He hoped that Australian experts will share experience for the search and recovery of martyrs’ remains, contributing to the “500-day campaign” underway in Vietnam.
Giang and Japanese Minister of Defence Koizumi Shinjiro welcomed increasingly deep and effective Vietnam-Japan relations, in line with their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World. They cited the maintenance of high-level exchanges and contacts and cooperation mechanisms and contents matching both sides’ wishes and needs.
Both sides praised the substantive ASEAN-Japan defence collaboration under Vientiane Vision 2.0 and Japan’s JASMINE Initiative, with activities like training courses on naval ships, air force officer development, cyber security cooperation and capacity building support.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese official and Philippine Secretary of Defence Gilberto Teodoro also hailed the increasingly comprehensive Vietnam-Philippines relations over 50 years of diplomatic ties. They said the June state visit to the Philippines by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam and his spouse created new momentum for stronger, more substantive and effective defence ties.
Over the past years, the two sides have achieved practical results in their joint work, notably exchanges at all levels, especially the high level; cooperation between military services and arms, dialogue and consultations, maritime security and safety, training, military medicine, young officer exchanges, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and search and rescue.
Giang suggested continuing with the agreed cooperation, including delegation exchanges, logistics, maritime search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, cooperation between military services and arms, workforce training, defence industry, maritime security and safety, military medicine, and cyber security.
At the meetings, he stressed that his ministry welcomes leaders of the US Department of War and the defence ministries of Australia, Japan and the Philippines to the third Vietnam International Defence Expo, alongside defence firms from these countries to display products at the event./.
