This statement was made by Senior Lieutenant-General Do Ba Ty, Chief ofthe General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, and his Chinesecounterpart, Chen Bingde at their talks in Beijing on April 16.
They expressed their pleasure with the development of the twocountries’ defence ties, saying that the two sides had effectivelyimplemented the protocol signed between the two defence ministries in2003, and other cooperative agreements.
The two armies increasedexchanges of delegations at all levels, including exchanges among youngofficers and veterans, as well as cooperation in training.
Bothsides continued to accelerate coordination between their navies, borderguards and bordering military zones. Activities such as joint patrols atsea and on land, and joint search and rescue exercises at sea havecontributed to maintaining security and order in border areas, andhelped to deal with violations while preventing and fighting crime.
Cooperationin Party and political work and coordination in the mechanism of theASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) between the two armiescontinued to be strengthened.
Regarding East Sea issues,the two sides agreed that armies must be the vanguard forces in strictlyimplementing agreements between the two countries’ senior leaders,including the agreement on fundamental principles guiding the settlementof issues at sea.
They noted the need to heighten vigilance, toprevent hostile forces from inciting division between Vietnam andChina or causing political instability in each country.
Addressingthe talks, Senior Lieutenant-General Chen Bingde, Chief of the GeneralStaff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, stressed that the currentvisit to China by Senior Lieutenant-General Do Ba Ty not only promotesthe traditional friendship between the two Parties, States, armies andpeoples, but also creates a dynamic force to begin a new step ofdevelopment and further strengthen confidence between the two countriesand armies.
He gave a briefing on China ’s achievements insocio-economic development, science and technology under the leadershipof the Party.
Senior Lieutenant-General Ty introduced Vietnam’s outstanding achievements from the 11 th National Party Congress,focusing on political and social stability, the strengthening of defenceand security, along with people’s increased trust in the Partyleadership and Government.
He said the Party, Government, peopleand army of Vietnam always remember the support and assistance of theParty, Government, people and army of China in the struggle fornational liberation and re-unification of the country in the past and innational construction and development at present.
He stressedthat the Vietnamese-Chinese friendship holds important strategicsignificance for both countries, as well as for peace, stability andcommon development in the region.
Developing a fine andsustainable neighbouring friendship with China is always Vietnam ’sconsistent policy and a top priority in its external policy.
Atthe talks, the two sides agreed to continue implementing cooperation inthe fields stated in the two ministries’ protocol and focus on exchangesof delegations at all levels and personnel training in future.
Thetwo armies will continue completing current cooperative mechanisms andstudy new mechanisms, helping make the relations between the two armiesdeeper and more substantial while enhancing mutual trust.
Thearmies should boost information dissemination on the traditionalfriendship between the two countries’ people and armies, and coordinateat multilateral forums, especially at the ADMM+, raising the role andposition of the Vietnamese and Chinese armies in the region andpromoting cooperation for peace, cooperation and development.-VNA