Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called for the building
and reinforcement of strategic trust for peace, cooperation, development
and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region on the basis of international
law.
Delivering a keynote speech at the opening
ceremony of the 12 th Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31,
Dung emphasised the upholding of responsibilities of all nations in the
region, especially major powers.
The PM stressed
that above all, the most important factors in building strategic trust
are honesty and sincerity in the relations and cooperation among
countries as well as in cooperation in dealing with common challenges in
the region.
He highlighted the indispensable role
and contributions of an unanimous and united ASEAN and its central
role in many multilateral cooperation forums.
Regarding the East Sea issue, PM Dung affirmed the significance of
peace, stability, maritime security and safety in the East Sea.
ASEAN and China need to raise high their
responsibility and work together to reinforce strategic trust, with
the first evidence of this being the strict implementation of the
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and
efforts to build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea at an early date in
line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), said the PM.
He said that ASEAN and its partners can work together to develop a
feasible mechanism that could guarantee maritime security, safety and
freedom in the region, helping maintain peace, stability and
development cooperation in the region and the world.
The Vietnamese Government leader stated that Vietnam consistently
pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism
and diversification of relations, being a friend and reliable partner
of all nations, and a responsible member of the international community.
Vietnam has spared no efforts to build and deepen
mutually beneficial strategic partnerships and cooperative partnerships
with other countries, said PM Dung, stressing his country’s desire to
establish strategic partnerships with all the permanent members of the
UN Security Council once the principles of independence, sovereignty and
non-interference in the internal affairs of each other, mutual respect,
equal and mutually beneficial cooperation are committed to and
seriously implemented.
He affirmed that Vietnam
’s defence policy is that of peace and self-defence. “Vietnam will not
be a military ally to any country and will not allow any country to set
up military bases on Vietnamese territory, and will not ally itself with
any country to counter another”, he said.
On the
occasion, the Vietnamese leader also announced that Vietnam has
decided to take part in United Nations peace-keeping activities, firstly
in engineering, army medical care and military observation.
Initiated by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
(IISS), the annual Asia Security Summit, or Shangri La Dialogue, was
first held in 2002.
It is a venue for leaders,
policymakers and scholars across Asia-Pacific to discuss regional and
global situations, strategic orientations for regional security,
measures to promote defence cooperation and enhance mutual understanding
and trust.
This year’s event will bring together
government leaders, defence ministers and top security analysts from 27
Asia-Pacific countries, including 10 ASEAN member nations and others
such as China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, the US, Russia,
Canada, the UK and France.-VNA