Vietnam attends 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore

A delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence led by Deputy Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien is attending the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue that officially opened in Singapore on June 3.

Organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the dialogue has brought together more than 550 delegates who are defence and security officers and scholars from 41 countries.

The event, lasting until June 4, features seven plenary sessions and six special sessions that touch upon various issues like security in cyberspace competition, challenges to developing military capacity in Asia-Pacific, nuclear threats and challenges to regional security, and defence cooperation trends in Indo-Pacific.

On the sidelines of the dialogue, Chien met with leaders of defence ministries and delegation heads of some participating countries, including Chinese Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Li Shangfu.

Chien and Li shared the view that the Vietnam-China defence cooperation has received attention of all-level leaders of both sides, saying it is growing practically and becomes an important pillar of the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Li stressed that the defence cooperation has been further implemented in line with the common perceptions reached by high-ranking leaders of the two countries, especially after the official visit to China by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong.

Chien suggested the two sides continue with delegation exchanges and other collaboration activities in border and sea management and defence, and soon organise the eighth Border Defence Friendship Exchange, and the defence strategic dialogue.

At a meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Donald Marles, the two officials noted that the bilateral defence ties have made new strides in all fields, from delegation exchange to training and maritime security, especially UN peacekeeping operations.

They consented to maintain cooperation in the agreed areas, firstly accelerating the signing of an agreement on the partnership in peacekeeping, and upgrading the Joint Vision for Enhancing Defence Cooperation.

Chien used this occasion to thank Australia for its support in transporting Vietnam’s level-2 field hospitals to UN peacekeeping missions.

In this regard, Marles affirmed that Australia will help the Southeast Asian nation transport its level-2 field hospital rotation 5 to South Sudan later this month.

Meeting with Japanese Vice Minister of Defence Masami Oka, Chien called on the Japanese side to further assist Vietnam in peacekeeping operations in terms of training and experience sharing.

On this occasion, the Vietnamese officer also had meetings with representatives of the Singaporean Ministry of Defence, and Assistant Deputy Minister of Canada Peter Hammerschmidt.