Vietnam and China to foster bilateral defense cooperation

Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan receiving Major General Zhang Baoqun

At the meeting, Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan affirmed that the Party, State, and People's Army of Vietnam always attach great importance to the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

He emphasized that the comprehensive cooperation between the two parties and two countries is a premise to expand the bilateral defense cooperation. Over the past time, despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, defense cooperation between the two sides has been actively maintained through flexible forms of exchange and contact.

At the reception

Expressing his pleasure to visit and work in Vietnam, Major General Zhang Baoqun thanked Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan for the reception. He affirmed that “the Vietnam - China Joint Statement on further promoting and deepening the China - Vietnam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership" reached by the two countries during the visit of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to China in November, 2022 is the guideline for the development of relations between the two parties, the two countries, and the militaries in the coming time.

The two sides highly appreciated the results of the talks between the Department of External Relations of the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and the Office for International Military Cooperation of Chinese Central Military Commission. They said that the talks’ outcomes will be an important basis for the promotion of bilateral defense cooperation in the coming time.

Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan (right) presenting souvenir to Major General Zhang Baoqun

On the occasion, Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan expressed his hope that the two agencies would actively coordinate and effectively implement the results of the visit and study and give advice to the Central Military Commissions and the Defense Ministries of the two countries on actualizing defense cooperation contents agreed by the two sides, contributing to developing the relations between the two parties, countries, and peoples in general and between the militaries in particular in a stable and positive manner.

Translated by Tran Hoai