Vietnam’s message at Shangri-La 15

PANO - Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh led a high-ranking Vietnamese defense delegation to attend the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore from June 3^rd - 5^th. At the event, the Vietnamese general delivered a speech conveying important message to the region and the world. Reporters from the People’s Army Newspaper and Military Broadcasting Center interviewed Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies, Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Hai to clarify Vietnam’s messages via the Deputy Defense Minister’s speech at the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue.

Reporter: Could you please clarify Vietnam’s messages in the Deputy Defense Minister’s speech at the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue?

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duc Hai during the interview

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duc Hai: One of the key messages in the speech is to confirm Vietnam’s resolute and persistent foreign policy to firmly protect the country’s independence, sovereignty and territory. This message also means that Vietnam is a relatively small country that has suffered many pains and losses in wars. But the country always struggles against wrongdoings in the East Sea (South China Sea) or elsewhere in the world in a resolute and persistent manner. In its struggles, Vietnam with its goodwill is willing to work with involved parties to find peaceful measures for disputes in an effort to build a peaceful, stable and prosperous region. Vietnam supports the current trend of international relations, in which a major power cannot and should not pressure a small country. Vietnam always wishes that countries, no mater how big they are, should join together in a common effort to build and ensure a peaceful, stable and secure environment for regional development. This is the most important message that Vietnam wants to convey to the region. This message has been strongly advocated by many regional countries. In fact, Vietnam’s message can hint at a way toward good solutions for disputes.

Reporter: You have said that countries have advocated Vietnam’s message. Could you articulate their views on Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh’s speech?

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duc Hai: After the speech of Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh at the dialogue, I met with representatives from India, France, ASEAN countries and Italy. All of them highly valued the speech and the messages conveyed to the international community. They said that the Vietnamese delegation sent a strong message of its resolve to protect national sovereignty and hinted at a number of good approaches to promoting coordination among countries to raise responsibility for protecting the region’s peaceful environment.

Reporter: Could you share with us stories on the sidelines of the dialogue?

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duc Hai: Our Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, always drew much attention from reporters. They flocked toward the head of the Vietnamese delegation and asked many questions when he finished his speech at the dialogue as well as when he left bilateral meetings with heads of other delegations. Sometimes, hundreds of reporters surrounded him and blocked his way. But General Vinh is the one who is always ready to answer questions from reporters. It can be said that it is his typical style of communicating with the press and media. At the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue, he even walked replying reporters. A large number of foreign reporters closely following General Vinh also demonstrated that he had raised the issues of common concern in his remarks at the dialogue. In his answers, he clarified our Party’s and State’s policy on defense relations with other countries and reaffirmed our Party’s and State’s viewpoint on dealing with regional issues and the East Sea issue.

Reporter: What conclusions do you think Vietnam should draw from the 15^th Shangri-La Dialogue?

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Duc Hai: We have drawn several conclusions from the event. First, Vietnam should expand its defense relations and cooperation with other countries via both official forums and sideline bilateral meetings so that we could attract more consideration and support from other countries around the world for our viewpoint and peaceful approach to regional issues, particularly the East Sea issue. Via multilateral forums and bilateral meetings, we could clarify Vietnam’s view on our defense development, and exploit more international support for our current defense building and regional peace and development as a whole.

Second, via multilateral forums and bilateral meetings, we can reconfirm our defense relations policy which defines that Vietnam is willing to multi-lateralize and diversify our relations with other countries. We can also receive much useful information and learn valuable lessons and experiences from our partners and friends to improve our defense capacity to better defend our country.

Third, via multilateral forums and bilateral meetings, we can make our friends and partners understand us better and promote cooperation between our country and other countries in the future.

Reporter: Thank you Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Hai!