15th Shangri-La dialogue enters the second day

PANO - Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh led a high-ranking delegation to join two plenary sessions of the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue at Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on June 4th.

>> General Vinh meets heads of delegations at 15th Shangri-La Dialogue

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh (2nd from left) at the June 4th session.

At the first plenary session, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivered a speech titled "Meeting Asia's Complex Security Challenges", proposing regional countries to enhance and deepen defense cooperation to deal with global and regional security threats. Regarding to recent tensions in the East Sea (South China Sea), US official cited the international community's concerns about China's extensive moves to reclaim reefs, islets and features in the East Sea. He said that the regional maritime security and freedom should be maintained and all disputes should be solved on the basic of international law.

In addition, the dialogue on the second day covered two other sessions themed "Managing military competition in Asia" and "Making defense policy in uncertain times." The Defense Ministers of India, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom delivered speeches in the two sessions.

On the sidelines of the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue, the Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister had bilateral meetings with Director of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Gunnar Wiegan, UK Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon, and Italian Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti. At the meetings, Sen. Lt. Gen. Vinh expressed Vietnam's wish to further defense cooperation with the European Unions (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), and Italia. He said Vietnam has sent troops to join United Nations (UN)' peacekeeping operations, thus the country hope to receive supports and learn experience from experienced countries in the field.

For their parts, Director of the EEAS Gunnar Wiegan, UK Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon, and Italian Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti all agreed with Deputy Minister Vinh and pledged to enhance defense cooperation with Vietnam and render more supports to the country, especially in the field of officers training for UN peacekeeping missions.

On the same day, Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh answered questions of several international press agencies on Vietnam‘s expectation for the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue and the country's viewpoint on China's actions in the East Sea.

Reported by Van Yen from Singapore