Vietnam’s Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh has called onregional countries to have truthful cooperation, show their cleardetermination, make proper investment, combine commitment with actions,and prove their responsibility in real actions to promote their defensecooperation.
Following is the full text of Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh’s speech at Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore:
“H.E. Excellency, Dr. John Chipman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to convey to all of you, ladies andgentlemen, the warm regards from General Phung Quang Thanh, VietnameseMinister of National Defence. At the moment, our Minister should havebeen here to share with you on regional security situation and contentson promoting defence cooperation in Asia-Pacific. However, due tounexpected circumstances, Minister Phung Quang Thanh could not come toattend the 12th Shangri-La Dialogue and authorised me to convey to youhis messages.
I would like to convey my sincerethanks to the Organising Committee, especially Mr. John Chipman forgiving me the floor in this Dialogue today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The 21st century will be a century of peace and development forAsia-Pacific. Of late, our region has undergone major changes. It is aregion, which once experienced confrontation, division and wars, hasmade a strong bend to an Asia-Pacific with the most dynamic cooperationand development. Geopolitically, Asia-Pacific has 3 permanent members ofthe UN Security Council. In terms of future development, Asia-Pacificis the center stage of countries with high technology, advancedmanagement, abundant work force and plentiful natural resources. Theseare the decisive factors for Asia-Pacific to become one of the hubs ofdevelopment the world. With the above-mentioned strategic status and bigpotential, together with the major trend of peace, cooperation anddevelopment, Asia-Pacific is enjoying great opportunities to make adecisive contribution to the global development in the 21st century.
Nevertheless, I am willing to share your concernsabout the regional situation. In reality, our region has not enjoyedabsolute stability, not to mention the durable architecture stability.The increase of military engagement and the competition for influence ofnations are driving the region to new challenges, of which arms race isone example. In addition, the scale and complicated nature ofnon-traditional security challenges are on the rise. No single countrycan deal with these challenges by itself. Hence, it is more essentialthan ever before to promote defense cooperation for a collectivestrength to cope with the common challenges. This is one of the keymeasures to maintain peace, stability and development to meet theaspiration of nearly four billion people in our region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is clearly seen that the trend for cooperation, including theAsia-Pacific defence cooperation, takes place more vigorously than anyother regions in the world. A few decades ago, the cooperation waslimited to some countries, mainly bilateral ones or in some particularspheres. However, the defense cooperation has nowadays been expandedmultilaterally and in various areas. Even some nations which used toface contradiction or confrontation are now moving forward to thedefense cooperation more obviously. Thanks to this trend, we have mademassive progress in confidence building and preventive diplomacy, whichis a key factor to reduce the risks of conflicts and contribute to themaintenance of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific for more than 3decades.
As for the Asia-Pacific defensecooperation, ASEAN nations have gained the common sense, strongdetermination, collective efforts and effective cooperation. After aperiod of time facing division; since the late twentieth century, ASEANhas become a common house of ten members, and is now advancing towardthe target of the establishment of the AESAN community in 2015. In orderto preserve regional peace and stability, the ASEAN member states wishto establish a strong cooperation mechanism. Thus, ASEAN organized the1st ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) successfully in Malaysiain 2006. Since ADMM was established, there have been major progressesin building confidence, strengthening solidarity and promotingmultifaceted cooperation.
ASEAN does not limititself to the defense cooperation within ASEAN, the initiative for anew, open and inclusive security structure adopted by ASEAN nations and 8partner countries was proved by the successful organization of the 1 stADMM Plus in Hanoi in 2010. This is the consulting mechanism andthe highest defense-security cooperation between ASEAN and its partnerswith a view to boosting the cooperation and sharing experience and humanresources to deal with the challenges. Although the mechanism wasestablished not long ago, a lot of ADMM Plus’s commitments have beencarried out in a flexible, practical and specific way, which is suitablefor both the common requirements of the region and the capacity of eachmember country. In addition to these mechanisms, ASEAN has beenproactively taking part in the cooperation within the framework of ASEANRegional Forum (ARF) and Shangri-La Dialogue, which we are attendingtoday.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
How will we do to promote our regional defense cooperation?
It is said by some scholars that only actions can bring about theoutcomes, which is the foundation for success. Every great objective andmassive plan requires actions as a last resort for completion. This isdefinitely true. We have had quite a few defense-security cooperationmechanisms at regional and global level and we also have made a numberof agreements, statements and commitments. In reality, having joinedvarious mechanisms and adopted cooperative items mean that we have builtthe confidence at the onset. Nonetheless, in order to put thesecommitments into practice, the best way to do this is to keep buildingconfidence. The best way of building confidence is action.
We should start our cooperation in each field, then, on the basis ofthe outcome of this cooperation, we strengthen our confidence in orderto have a more extensive cooperation in more areas and spheres. Toachieve this, all countries, especially major powers, should havetruthful cooperation, show their clear determination, make properinvestment, combine commitment with actions, and prove theirresponsibility in real actions.
In the process ofcooperation, we need to hear public opinion, make decisions on theprinciples of international laws and legitimate benefits of all parties,show the equality and the respect for mutual benefits and the commonbenefits of the region. In doing so, we will be able to avoid sectorialdifferences and unilateralism in dealing with regional and internationalissues.
ADMM Plus has reached the consensus on 5priority areas of cooperation, namely: humanitarian assistance anddisaster relief, medicine, maritime security, peacekeeping andcounter-terrorism. ADMM Plus gradually carried out these areas ofcooperation in such forms as seminars, tabletop exercises, andexperience sharing in human resources cooperation. This is the righttime for ADMM Plus to have more specific and practical actions. As such,as co-chairman of ADMM Plus Experts Working Groups on HumanitarianAssistance and Disaster Relief with China, Vietnam is about to sendmilitary personnel to join the field exercises on HumanitarianAssistance, Disaster Relief and Military Medicine in Brunei Darussalamin June. This is the first time for ADMM Plus to carry out thecoordination in field actions and it is also the first time forVietnam to send troops overseas to take part in multilateralactivities.
In addition to these areas ofcooperation, Vietnam has just proposed a new initiative for theestablishment of Humanitarian Mine Action Group. This is the 6 th itemof cooperation in ADMM Plus. The initiative initiated by Vietnam wasadopted at the 7 th ADMM in Brunei in May. India has agreed toco-chair with Vietnam in the implementation of this initiative as soonas this initiative is adopted at the 2 nd ADMM Plus in Brunei inAugust. At this forum of the Shangri-La Dialogue, I once again reiteratethe request for further cooperation among the Navies, Maritime Policesand Border Guards and for the establishment of the hotline between ASEANDefense Ministers. In the East Sea (alias the South China Sea ),those ASEAN countries having troops stationed in the Spratly islandsneed to promote the exchange and interaction on culture and sportevents. The ASEAN Ministers of Defence may consider the signing of ano-first-use-of-force agreement in order to consolidate the mutual trustamong ASEAN countries. The experience gained from this will beeventually expanded to the nations of the Asia-Pacific Region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Vietnam is located on the rim of the Pacific Ocean and at the lowdelta of the Mekong River . Vietnam is one of the fivecountries which are under the most serious influence of the climatechange and the rising sea level. In addition, the Vietnamese people havebeen suffering from severe consequences of wars. For these reasons, weare always concerned about the ever increasingly complicated challengesin our region. In confronting these common challenges, we need the fullconsciousness and the consensus of all nations. With those in mind,Vietnam has been actively involving in the regional defense-securitymechanism. Together with this, Vietnam has proactively proposed thesolutions to the disputes and agreed to fully implement the Declarationon the Conducts of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC); supportedthe formulation of the Codes of Conducts (COC) between ASEAN countriesand China; at the same time, Vietnam is willing to cooperate with allconcerning parties to seek a basic and long-term solution to the issuesin the East Sea (alias South China Sea) on the principles ofinternational laws, especially the UN’s 1982 Convention on the Laws ofthe Sea. On this occasion, I would like to explain that our Army isrequired to carry out 3 functions spontaneously: safeguarding thecountry, developing socio-economy and helping the people. This meansthat the gradual modernization of our Army not only serves thelegitimate self-defense rights but also enhances the capabilities torestore the consequences of wars, deals with non-traditional securityissues and takes part in the production activities, thus contributing tothe national construction.
Along with the regionalcooperation, Vietnam has proactively coped with those challenges. Asa coastal country, we realize our responsibility for ensuring themaritime security in the region. Over the past years, our forces haverescued a lot of fishermen from the accidents at sea, a great number ofwhom are foreign fishermen. Noticeably, in November 2012, the Vietnam’Marine Police arrested 11 armed pirates in the East Sea, whichreaffirmed Vietnam’s determination and responsibility in maintainingfreedom, security and safety for the international sea lines within thecontinental shelf and the Economic Exclusive Zone of Vietnam in linewith the UN’s 1982 Convention on the Laws of the Sea, contributing topeace, stability and development in the region. For this reason, I wouldlike to request all concerning parties in the East Sea to respectand protect the fishermen, absolutely avoid the use force against thefishermen by all means including military and non-military means. Theinhumane actions against the fishermen are unacceptable. These are thecommon norms of international laws and the moral codes of the presentday world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
What Vietnam has done and contributed has been recognised andhighly appreciated by the international community. We are determined toact in this direction to minimize and nullify the challenges. As othercountries in the region, Vietnam has a lot of work to do. I amconfident that with the message “strategic confidence building” inspiredby Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the opening keynoteaddress, we will have more practical steps of cooperation in thespirit of mutual understanding, equality, mutual support and respect,which is the best way to preserve peace, stability and development inthe Asia-Pacific region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are the messages of Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung QuangThanh which I would like to convey to you. Minister Phung Quang Thanhwould like to see all of you soon.
Thank you for your attention!”.-VNA