Illustrative image (Photo: The Khmer Times) Tokyo (VNA) – Vietnamese Deputy Minister of NationalDefence Sen. Lieut. Gen Hoang Xuan Chien delivered a keynote speech at the 12th ASEAN-Japan deputy defence ministers’ meeting in Tokyo on March 15.
Speaking at the event, Chien affirmed that the regionis facing a series of traditional and non-traditional security challenges,notably maritime security, terrorism, cyber security, climate change, naturaldisasters and epidemics.
He said these challenges are transnational innature and no country can effectively solve them on their own, which requiressubstantial cooperation among countries.
Chien hailed Japan's support forASEAN's central role and its active participation in ASEAN-led mechanisms,particularly the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ) and Japan's"Vientiane Vision 2.0".
About maritime security, he emphasised theimportance of strengthening collective efforts to ensure the maintenance ofinternational law and principles in international relations, including the 1982United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the fullimplementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC) as well as joint efforts to prevent and manage conflictsin order to maintain common peace and stability in the region.
On the sidelines of the event, Chien held abilateral meeting with Gen. Neang Phat, Secretary of State at Cambodia's Defence Ministry, during which they expressed their satisfaction with the recent developmentsof bilateral defence cooperation, especially in realising the"Vietnam-Cambodia, Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Year 2022" plan inareas such as exchange of delegations, cooperation between military regions andborder guard forces, personnel training, among others.
They also agreed to working closely togetheron the cooperation plan for 2023./.
