On the sidelines of the event, Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien granted an interview to share his views about the international integration and defense diplomacy work of the country in general, and of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) in particular.
Assessing the international integration and defense diplomacy work over the past time, General Chien considered this work an important task of the national foreign policy, contributing to the “early protection of the Fatherland from afar” in peacetime while exerting all-out efforts to prevent conflicts and settling disputes through peaceful means on the basis of international laws so as to firmly defend national independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity as well as create a peaceful and stable environment for the national construction and development cause.
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Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien |
In the implementation of the Party’s and State’s foreign policy, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and MND have directed and comprehensively carried out international integration and defense diplomacy work with many remarkable achievements. Accordingly, the CMC and MND have actively made recommendations to the Party and State to soundly address strategic issues related to national defense, security and territorial borders and be active in any circumstances; effectively handled defense relations with other countries, especially neighboring countries and major powers, strategic and comprehensive partners, while ensuring national interests.
Meanwhile, the VPA has also proactively consolidated international friendship and solidarity, promoted defense cooperation, increased potential to serve the task of building a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modernized military, contributing to strengthening strategic trust between Vietnam and other countries, enhancing the position and prestige of the country and the VPA in the international arena.
So far, Vietnam has established defense cooperation relations with more than 100 countries around the world, including all five permanent members of the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council and all major powers in many fields, via substantive and effective cooperation mechanisms such as training, delegation exchange, cooperation among armed forces, defense industry, defense policy dialogues as well as border defense exchanges, among others, which have been highly appreciated by international community and partners.
In addition, they have also conducted drills to prevent and combat traditional and non-traditional security challenges, such as military medical drills, search and rescue, anti-piracy and transnational crime, and joint border patrols along the borderline; participated in the Army Games and ASEAN Military Sports Festivals; boosted cooperation in overcoming war-left consequences, joined the U.N. peacekeeping operations; contributed to the socio-economic development, and firmly protecting national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mentioning the multilateral relations, General Chien noted that the VPA has become an active and responsible member of the regional and international multilateral defense cooperation mechanisms and forums, such as ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM), ADMM Plus (ADMM+), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Shangri-La Dialogue, Moscow International Security Conference, Beijing Xiangshan Forum, to name but a few. Moreover, it has also contributed important initiatives at the mechanisms and forums, affirming Vietnam’s responsibility in fulfilling its obligations as a member of the U.N. while making contribution to world peace.
In the coming years, the world and regional situation will continue to develop complicatedly and unpredictably, including strategic competition, local conflicts, populism, nationalist extremism, and the increasing role of major powers in international relations. In addition to problems related to the East Sea (South China Sea) and some strategic areas of the country, traditional and non-traditional security factors are predicted to be sophisticated, affecting the implementation of military, defense and security tasks, including the international integration and defense diplomacy work. In order to well perform the foreign policy according to the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the deputy defense minister underscored that the international integration and defense diplomacy work in the coming time should focus on the following major contents.
Firstly, the international integration and defense diplomacy work should be implemented in line with the Resolutions of the 13th National Party Congress and the 11th Military Party Congress, the directions and instructions of the CMC and MND, via the motto “positive, proactive, firm, flexible and effective,” while building plans in accordance with new conditions, especially amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Secondly, the VPA should steadfastly adhere to independence and self-reliance, maintain the foreign policy of diversification and multilateralization to promote cooperation and prevent conflicts, while minimizing the risk of conflict and confrontation. In the implementation process, it is necessary to both boost internal strength and take advantage of international strength.
Thirdly, the quality and efficiency of research, forecasting and strategic advice on the work should be further heightened, with the focus on evaluating and analyzing advantages and disadvantages, which directly affects the tasks of defense diplomacy and national protection, so as to make recommendations to the Party, State, CMC and MND to map out appropriate foreign policy plans and strategies. At first, the VPA needs to develop the strategy for international integration and defense diplomacy towards 2030 and the following years.
Fourthly, it should attach importance to bringing bilateral defense cooperation relationship with important partners, strategic partners, as well as established relationships into reality, practical effectiveness, in line with mutual interests. In particular, it is necessary to promote the advantages of defense diplomacy in building strategic trust with other countries, thereby bolstering cooperation in military science and technology, military trade, defense industry, among others, while making full use of external resources to enhance defense potential for the country.
Fifthly, the multilateral defense diplomacy should be heightened and widened in both fields and scale while the VPA should raise initiatives and participate responsibly and effectively in regional and international security mechanisms and forums, especially defense cooperation mechanisms within the ASEAN framework.
It needs to further participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations; attach defense diplomacy to people-to-people diplomacy, while closely and effectively coordinating with Vietnamese functional departments, ministries, sectors, localities and diplomatic missions abroad to well implement foreign affairs of leaders of the Party, State and military; and promote the effectiveness of the Steering Board for international integration and defense diplomacy work of the MND in the coming time.
Sixthly, the military should continuously strengthen information and dissemination work on defense diplomacy, helping international friends understand Vietnam’s peaceful and self-defense policy. In particular, it is necessary to actively renew contents, forms and methods in a practical and effective manner, suitable to Vietnam’s defense diplomacy and the trend of globalization and international integration.
Last but not least, the military should pay due attention to building up human resources in the international integration and defense diplomacy work, especially high-quality personnel in order to meet all requirements of building a modern diplomacy service of the country, while strengthening foreign affairs agencies in the whole military, especially in military regions, services and forces who are directly in charge of carrying out the task.
Translated by Minh Anh