Lt. Gen. Vu Chien Thang, Director of the Foreign Relations Department at the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence, speaks at the teleconferenced 9th Fullerton Forum (Photo: qdnd.vn) The forum, with the participation more than 20Asian-Pacific nations, was an occasion for defence policy makers to discussemerging security challenges ahead of the 2021 Shangri-La Dialogue.
Basing on countries’ concerns, organisers of the2021 Shangri-La Dialogue will identify issues that attract great attention todesign the agenda for the coming event, set to take place in Singapore fromJune 4 - 6.
At the Fullerton Forum, Lt. Gen. Vu Chien Thang,Director of the Foreign Relations Department at the Vietnamese Ministry ofNational Defence, delivered a speech at the third session on the strategic usesof emerging technologies.
He noted that scientific and technologicaladvances have considerably contributed to economic development and ensuring defence- security in each country, while creating a solid foundation for proactiveresponse to impacts of non-traditional security challenges, including theCOVID-19 pandemic.
However, there are also adverse effects, Thangnoted, elaborating that scientific and technological advances are among causesof new forms of warfare such as cyberwarfare and “grey-zone” warfare, as wellas risks of conflict and tension escalation.
Given this, he pointed out the necessity to havemechanisms for managing and monitoring the application of military scientificand technological advances to minimise adverse impacts.
Thang suggested that countries should keep theirdefence and military science - technology development policies transparent.They also need to enhance international cooperation to manage risks thatadvanced technology may pose to security of each country, the region and theworld at large.
Dr Samir Puri, an senior fellow at theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) – the organising body ofthe Fullerton Forum and the Shangri-La Dialogue, who chaired the third session,applauded Vietnam laying emphasis on the need to bring into play effectiveregional security cooperation mechanisms led by ASEAN, including the ASEANRegional Forum, the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting, andthe ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, in mainlining strategic dialogue andusing information technology to organise teleconferenced discussions./.
VNA
