Emeritus Professor Carl Thayer from the Australian Defence Force Academyhas described Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s upcoming visit toAustralia as providing a renewed impetus to bilateral relations.
Following is the professor’s evaluation of current Vietnam-Australiarelations and future prospect and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’svisit.
“Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungwill make a two-day official visit to Australia at the invitation ofPrime Minister Tony Abbott from March 17-18.
This visit is particularly important because the currentAustralia-Vietnam Plan of Action (2010-13) to implement the 2009comprehensive partnership expired over a year ago. In September 2013Australia changed government. And the following year it hosted the G20Summit that crowded out the diplomatic calendar.
Prime Minister Dung’s visit will provide renewed energy tobilateral relations. The two sides will raise Australia-Vietnamrelations to an Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership. This will serve asthe foundation for a second Plan of Action that will develop new areasof cooperation and refocused priorities for the coming years.
Since 2009 relations between Australia and Vietnamhave developed comprehensively in both breadth and depth. Cooperationbetween two nations takes place in some main areas: bilaterally;regionally and internationally; economic growth, trade and industrydevelopment; development assistance; and defence, law enforcement andsecurity ties.
To take one example,two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam rose from 32 million USD in1990 to 6 billion USD in 2014. Australian direct investment in Vietnamrose to 1.65 billion USD last year. Overall, Vietnam is Australia’sfastest growing trade partner among all ASEAN countries.
Australia and Vietnam share a growing convergence ofinterests due to changes in the security environment in the Indo-Pacificregion caused by changes in the distribution of power among the majorpowers and the increased salience of non-traditional security issues.Australia and Vietnam share common interests in regional stability,regional security and continued economic growth.
In the future, Australia and Vietnam will work more closelytogether in multilateral institutions to address international andregional security concerns. This includes cooperation in the UnitedNations, East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) andASEAN-centered bodies such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN DefenceMinisters’ Meeting Plus and the Enlarged ASEAN Maritime Forum.
Importantly, Australia and Vietnam will cooperate tomake the EAS a leader-led forum to discuss overarching strategic issuesin East Asia.
Australia and Vietnam willwork together to implement the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free TradeAgreement and to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement andthe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Both Australia and Vietnam share a convergence on interests inpromoting more open global trade and investment through the World TradeOrganisation, APEC, Asia-Europe Meeting and the Cairns Group ofagricultural traders. Both are in agreement to support a heightened rolefor the private sector.
Two of themainstays of bilateral cooperation are exchanges of high-level visits byparty, government and parliamentary officials and wide-rangingpeople-to-people exchanges. Australia is home to 300,000 Vietnamese. In2015, an estimated 30,000 students from Vietnam were enrolled inAustralian training institutes, schools, colleges and universities.
Australia and Vietnam share a convergence ofviews on territorial disputes in the East Sea. Both sides hold thatsuch disputes should be settled peacefully without resort to forcethrough dialogue self-restraint by the parties concerned, on the basisof international law including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Australia and Vietnam have developedextensive linkages in promoting cooperation among defence, security andlaw enforcement officials.
Vietnamand Australia conduct four major defence dialogues each year, including ameeting between defence ministers. Since defence relations wereestablished in 1999 over 1,200 Vietnamese have been recipients ofAustralian defence cooperation education and training. Both partiescooperate in aviation and maritime security, peacekeeping,counter-terrorism, Special Forces, and war legacy issues.
Australian and Vietnamese law enforcement officialcooperate closely to combat transnational crime such as humantrafficking, narcotics smuggling, money laundering and cyber crime.
Under the Australia Vietnam ComprehensivePartnership bilateral relations have deepened and widened considerably.Australia and Vietnam increasingly share a convergence views onpolitical, diplomatic, economic, development, and security and defenceissues.
Prime Minister Dung’s visit toAustralia provides a renewed impetus for the two countries to advancebilateral relations to an Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership and toadopt a second Plan of Action to implement this agreement in comingyear.
The Australian-Vietnam EnhancedComprehensive Partnership demonstrates the wisdom of Vietnam’slong-standing policy of “multilateralising and diversifying” itsexternal relations and proactively seeking international integration.The Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership also underscores Australia’s roleas a middle power that constructively contributes not only to Vietnam’seconomic development and security but also to Southeast Asia’s securityand economic growth as well."-VNA
Following is the professor’s evaluation of current Vietnam-Australiarelations and future prospect and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’svisit.
“Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungwill make a two-day official visit to Australia at the invitation ofPrime Minister Tony Abbott from March 17-18.
This visit is particularly important because the currentAustralia-Vietnam Plan of Action (2010-13) to implement the 2009comprehensive partnership expired over a year ago. In September 2013Australia changed government. And the following year it hosted the G20Summit that crowded out the diplomatic calendar.
Prime Minister Dung’s visit will provide renewed energy tobilateral relations. The two sides will raise Australia-Vietnamrelations to an Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership. This will serve asthe foundation for a second Plan of Action that will develop new areasof cooperation and refocused priorities for the coming years.
Since 2009 relations between Australia and Vietnamhave developed comprehensively in both breadth and depth. Cooperationbetween two nations takes place in some main areas: bilaterally;regionally and internationally; economic growth, trade and industrydevelopment; development assistance; and defence, law enforcement andsecurity ties.
To take one example,two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam rose from 32 million USD in1990 to 6 billion USD in 2014. Australian direct investment in Vietnamrose to 1.65 billion USD last year. Overall, Vietnam is Australia’sfastest growing trade partner among all ASEAN countries.
Australia and Vietnam share a growing convergence ofinterests due to changes in the security environment in the Indo-Pacificregion caused by changes in the distribution of power among the majorpowers and the increased salience of non-traditional security issues.Australia and Vietnam share common interests in regional stability,regional security and continued economic growth.
In the future, Australia and Vietnam will work more closelytogether in multilateral institutions to address international andregional security concerns. This includes cooperation in the UnitedNations, East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) andASEAN-centered bodies such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN DefenceMinisters’ Meeting Plus and the Enlarged ASEAN Maritime Forum.
Importantly, Australia and Vietnam will cooperate tomake the EAS a leader-led forum to discuss overarching strategic issuesin East Asia.
Australia and Vietnam willwork together to implement the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free TradeAgreement and to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement andthe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
Both Australia and Vietnam share a convergence on interests inpromoting more open global trade and investment through the World TradeOrganisation, APEC, Asia-Europe Meeting and the Cairns Group ofagricultural traders. Both are in agreement to support a heightened rolefor the private sector.
Two of themainstays of bilateral cooperation are exchanges of high-level visits byparty, government and parliamentary officials and wide-rangingpeople-to-people exchanges. Australia is home to 300,000 Vietnamese. In2015, an estimated 30,000 students from Vietnam were enrolled inAustralian training institutes, schools, colleges and universities.
Australia and Vietnam share a convergence ofviews on territorial disputes in the East Sea. Both sides hold thatsuch disputes should be settled peacefully without resort to forcethrough dialogue self-restraint by the parties concerned, on the basisof international law including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Australia and Vietnam have developedextensive linkages in promoting cooperation among defence, security andlaw enforcement officials.
Vietnamand Australia conduct four major defence dialogues each year, including ameeting between defence ministers. Since defence relations wereestablished in 1999 over 1,200 Vietnamese have been recipients ofAustralian defence cooperation education and training. Both partiescooperate in aviation and maritime security, peacekeeping,counter-terrorism, Special Forces, and war legacy issues.
Australian and Vietnamese law enforcement officialcooperate closely to combat transnational crime such as humantrafficking, narcotics smuggling, money laundering and cyber crime.
Under the Australia Vietnam ComprehensivePartnership bilateral relations have deepened and widened considerably.Australia and Vietnam increasingly share a convergence views onpolitical, diplomatic, economic, development, and security and defenceissues.
Prime Minister Dung’s visit toAustralia provides a renewed impetus for the two countries to advancebilateral relations to an Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership and toadopt a second Plan of Action to implement this agreement in comingyear.
The Australian-Vietnam EnhancedComprehensive Partnership demonstrates the wisdom of Vietnam’slong-standing policy of “multilateralising and diversifying” itsexternal relations and proactively seeking international integration.The Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership also underscores Australia’s roleas a middle power that constructively contributes not only to Vietnam’seconomic development and security but also to Southeast Asia’s securityand economic growth as well."-VNA
