Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delivered a keynote address entitled
“Building Strategic Trust for Peace, Cooperation and Prosperity in the
Asia-Pacific Region” at the opening ceremony of the 12th Shangri-La
Dialogue in Singapore on May 31.
Following is the full text of the speech:
Excellency Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong,
Dr. John Chipman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
At the outset, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong of the Singaporean host, Dr. John Chipman and
the organisers of the 12 th Shangri-La Dialogue for your kind
invitation to me to attend and address this important forum. Since its
inception 12 years ago, the Shangri-La Dialogue has truly become one of
the most substantive and meaningful security dialogues in the region. I
do believe that the full presence of government officials, military
leaders, prestigious scholars and all distinguished delegates at this
forum reflects the interest and the efforts to jointly preserve peace
and security in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of a dynamically
changing world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
While languages and expressions might differ, I am sure we all agree
that without trust, there would be no success and harder work asks for
bigger trust. In Vietnam, there is a saying that ‘if trust is lost,
all is lost.’ Trust is the beginning of all friendships and cooperation,
the remedy that works to prevent calculations that could risk
conflicts. Trust must be treasured and nurtured constantly by concrete,
consistent actions in accordance with the common norms and with a
sincere attitude.
In the 20 th century,
Southeast Asia in particular and the Asia-Pacific in general were once
fierce battlefields and deeply divided for decades. It might be said
that the entire region always had a burning desire for peace. To have
the peace, development and prosperity, it is a must to build and
consolidate strategic trust. In other words, we need to build strategic
trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific. That
is what I wish to share with you at this forum.
To begin with, Vietnam has a profound confidence in the bright
future of development and cooperation in the region that we are living
in. Yet the trend of increased engagement and competition, particularly
by big powers not only offers positive elements but also involves
negative risks that require us to take initiative and work together to
prevent.
The Asia-Pacific region now enjoys
dynamic development and is home to the three biggest economies and many
emerging ones of the world. Here, the trend of multi-layer and
multi-sector cooperation and linkages is evolving vigorously and becomes
the prevailing one of the day. This is quite a promising prospect for
us all.
However, looking back at the full picture
of the region in the past years, we cannot fail to be concerned over the
simmering risks and challenges to peace and security.
Competition and engagement are by themselves normal facts in the
course of cooperation and development. Yet if such competition and
engagement embrace calculations only in one’s own interest, without
equality, respect of international law and transparency, then strategic
trust could in no way be reinforced, and there could be a chance for the
rise of division, suspicion and the risk of mutual containment, thus
adversely affecting peace, cooperation and development.
The unpredictable developments in the Korean Peninsula; sovereignty
and territorial disputes from the East China Sea to the East Sea (South
China Sea) that are evolving with much complexity, threatening regional
peace and security, firstly maritime security and safety as well as the
freedom of navigation, have indeed caused deep concerns to the
international community. Somewhere in the region, there have emerged
preferences for unilateral might, groundless claims, and actions that
run counter to international law and stem from imposition and power
politics.
I would like to draw your further attention to the
fact that maritime transport and communications are growing in scale and
having a much greater significance. It is projected that three fourths
of global trade will be made via maritime routes and two thirds of that
will be shipped across the East Sea . A single irresponsible action
or instigation of conflict could well lead to the interruption of such
huge trade flow, thus causing unforeseeable consequences not only to
regional economies but also to the entire world.
In the mean
time, the threats of religious and ethnic conflicts, egoistic
nationalism, secessionism, violence, terrorism, cyber security, etc. are
still very much present. Global challenges like climate change, sea
level rise, pandemics or water resources and the interests of upstream
and downstream riparian countries of shared rivers, etc. have become
ever more acute.
We could realize that such challenges and
risks of conflict are not to be underestimated. We all understand that
if this region falls into instability and especially, armed conflicts,
in general there will be neither winner nor loser. Rather, all will
lose. Suffice it to say, therefore, that working together to build and
reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the
region is the shared interest of us all. For Vietnam , strategic
trust is perceived, above all, as honesty and sincerity.
Secondly, to build strategic trust, we need to abide ourselves by
international law, uphold the responsibilities of nations, especially of
major powers, and improve the efficiency of multilateral security
cooperation mechanisms.
In the world history, many nations
have suffered from irreparable losses when they fell victim to power
politics, conflicts and wars. In today’s civilised world, the UN
Charter, international law and the universal principles and norms serve
as the entire mankind’s common values that must be respected. This also
represents the precondition for strategic trust building.
Each
state should always be a responsible stakeholder in the pursuit of
common peace and security. Countries, either big or small, must build
their relations on the basis of equality and mutual respect and at a
higher level, on mutual strategic trust. Big states have a greater role
to play and can contribute more but they should also shoulder bigger
responsibilities in the cultivation and consolidation of such strategic
trust. Besides, when it comes to the right voices and beneficial
initiatives it does not matter whether they come from big or small
countries. The principles of cooperation, equal and open dialogue in
ASEAN and other forums advocated by ASEAN as well as this Shangri-La
Dialogue are born from and maintained on such mindset.
I fully
share the views of H.E. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of
Indonesia who said last year at this forum that small and medium
countries could help lock major powers into a durable regional
architecture. I also agree with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on what
he said in a speech in Beijing last September that a reliable and
responsible cooperation between the United States and China would
positively contribute to the common interest of the region. We all
understand that the Asia-Pacific has sufficient room for all intra- and
extra-regional countries to work together and share their interests. The
future of the Asia-Pacific has been and will continue to be shaped by
the roles and interactions by all countries in the region and the world,
particularly by the major powers and certainly, by the indispensable
role of ASEAN.
I believe that no regional country would oppose
the strategic engagement of extra-regional powers if such engagement
aims to enhance cooperation for peace, stability and development. We
could expect more in the roles played by major powers, particularly the
United States and China , the two powers having the biggest roles
(I underline the biggest) in and responsibilities to the future of their
own as well as that of the region and the world. What is important is
that such expectation should be reinforced by strategic trust and such
strategic trust must be reflected by concrete and constructive actions
of these nations.
We attach special importance to the roles
played by a vigorously rising China and by the United States – a
Pacific power. We would expect and support the United States and
China once their strategies and actions conform to international law,
respect the independence and sovereignty of nations, not only bringing
about benefits to them but also contributing genuinely to our common
peace, cooperation and prosperity.
What I want to further
underline is that the existing regional cooperation mechanisms such as
the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Defence
Ministers’ Meetings Plus (ADMM+) as well as the Shangri-La Dialogue
offer the opportunities to foster multilateral security cooperation and
find solutions to the arising challenges. Yet it could be said that what
is still missing, or at least still insufficient, is the strategic
trust in the implementation of those arrangements. The first and
foremost important thing is to build a mutual trust when confronting
challenges, impacts of interactions, and enhancing practical cooperation
in various areas, and at different levels and layers, both bilateral
and multilateral. Once there is sufficient strategic trust, the
enforcement effectiveness of existing mechanisms will be enhanced, and
we could advance and expand cooperation and find solutions to any
problem, even the most sensitive and difficult one.
Thirdly,
when talking about peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the
Asia-Pacific, we cannot help but mention an ASEAN of unity and
consensus, playing its central role in many multilateral cooperation
forums.
It was hard to believe that a South East Asia
once divided and embedded in conflicts during the Cold War could become a
community of nations united in diversity and playing a central role in
an evolving regional architecture like ASEAN today. The participation of
Vietnam in ASEAN in 1995 marked a new era of development in ASEAN
towards building a common house for all South East Asian nations true
to its name. The success of ASEAN is the fruit of a long persevering
process to build trust, nurture the culture of dialogue and cooperation,
and cultivate the sense of responsibility to the shared destiny of
South East Asian nations.
ASEAN is proud to be an example for
the principle of consensus and mutual trust in the making of its own
decisions. That principle is the foundation for equality among the
member states, whether it is Indonesia with nearly a fourth of a billion
people or Brunei Darussalam with less than half a million. That
principle also constitutes the foundation for extra-regional countries
to place their trust in ASEAN as an ‘ honest broker’ in guiding the
numerous regional cooperation mechanisms.
With a mindset of
shared interests rather than that of a win-lose one, the enlargement of
the East Asia Summit (EAS) to include Russia and the United States, the
ADMM+ process that was put into reality in Vietnam in 2010, and the
success of EAS, ARF and ADMM+ in the years that follow have further
consolidated the ground for a regional architecture in which ASEAN plays
the central role, bringing about trust in the multilateral security
cooperation in the region.
I also wish to refer to Myanmar
as a vivid example of the outcome of the perseverance to dialogue on the
basis of building and reinforcing trust, respecting the legitimate
interests of each other, which helps open up a bright future not only
for Myanmar but also for our whole region.
There have been
profound lessons about the fundamental values of ASEAN’s consensus and
unity in maintaining equal and mutually beneficial relations with
partner countries and maximising its proactive role in handling
strategic issues of the region. ASEAN could only be strong and able to
build on its role when it is united as one. An ASEAN lacking unity will
by itself, lose its stand and will not be in the interest of any
country, even ASEAN member states or its partners. We need an ASEAN
united and strong, cooperating effectively with all countries to nurture
peace and prosperity in the region, not an ASEAN in which member states
are forced to take side with one country or the other for the
individual benefit of their own in the relations with big powers. We
have the responsibility to multiply trust in the settlement of problems,
enhance cooperation for mutual benefit, combine harmoniously our
national interest with that of other nations and of the whole region.
Vietnam and other ASEAN members always desire that other
countries, particularly the major powers, support the ASEAN Community’s
central role, its principle of consensus and unity.
Back to the
issue of the East Sea , ASEAN and China have travelled a long way
with no less difficulty to come to the Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) adopted during the ASEAN Summit in
Phnom Penh in 2002. To commemorate the 10 th anniversary of the
DOC, ASEAN and China have agreed to work towards a Code of Conduct
in the South China Sea (COC). Parties need to uphold their
responsibilities, mutually reinforce strategic trust, first and foremost
by strictly implementing the DOC and doubling efforts to formulate a
COC that conforms to international law and in particular, the 1982 UN
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
We believe that
ASEAN and its partners can work together to develop a feasible mechanism
that could guarantee maritime security and safety and freedom of
navigation in the region . In so doing, we will not only help ensure
maritime security and safety, and freedom of navigation, and create
conditions for the settlement of disputes but will also assert the
fundamental principles in maintaining peace, enhancing development
cooperation in the contemporary world.
As for non-traditional
security and other challenges including water resources security on the
common rivers, by building strategic trust, enhancing cooperation and
harmonizing national interests with common interests, I believe that we
will able to achieve successes, thus making practical contributions to
peace, cooperation and development in the region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Throughout her thousands of years of history, Vietnam has
suffered numerous pains and losses due to wars. Vietnam always
aspires to peace and desires to contribute to the consolidation of peace
and enhancement of friendship and development cooperation in the region
and the world. To have a genuine and lasting peace, the independence
and sovereignty of any country, whether large or small, must be
respected; and differences in interests, culture, etc. must be subject
to open and constructive dialogues of mutual understanding and mutual
respect.
We do not forget the past but need to put it behind to
look forward to the future. With the tradition of offering peace and
friendship, Vietnam always desires to work with its partners to
build and reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperation and
development on the basis of the principle of respect for independence,
sovereignty, equality and mutual benefit.
Vietnam
consistently persists with the foreign policy of independence,
self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external
relations, being a friend and reliable partner to all nations, and a
responsible member of the international community. Vietnam has
spared no efforts to build and deepen strategic partnerships and
mutually beneficial cooperative partnerships with other countries. It is
also our desire to establish strategic partnerships with all the
permanent members of the UN Security Council once the principles of
independence, sovereignty, non-interference in the internal affairs of
each other, mutual respect, equal and mutually beneficial cooperation
are committed and seriously implemented.
At this prestigious
forum, I have the honour to inform that Vietnam has decided to
participate in UN peacekeeping operations, first in such areas as
military engineering, military medicine and military observation.
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. Vietnam
will not ally itself with any country to counter another.
In
the past years, sustained high economic growth has enabled Vietnam
to increase its national defence budget at a reasonable level. Vietnam
’s army modernisation is only for self-defence and the safeguard of
our legitimate interests. It does not, in any way target any other
country.
With regard to the present threats and challenges to
regional security such as the Korean Peninsula, the East China Sea and
the East Sea, etc., Vietnam perseveres to the principle of peaceful
dispute settlement on the basis of international law, respecting the
independence, sovereignty and the legitimate interests of each other.
All parties concerned need to exercise self-restraint and must not
resort to force or threat to use force.
Once again, Vietnam
reiterates its consistent compliance with the ASEAN Six-point Statement
on the South China Sea and will do its utmost to work together with
ASEAN and China to seriously observe the DOC and soon arrive at the
COC. As a coastal State , Vietnam reaffirms and defends its
legitimate rights and interests in accordance with international law,
especially the 1982 UNCLOS.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Peace, cooperation and development represent the interest, the ardent
aspirations and the common future of all countries and peoples. In
the open spirit of the Shangri-La Dialogue, I would call upon you all to
join hands and make concrete actions to build and reinforce strategic
trust for an Asia-Pacific region of peace, cooperation and prosperity.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.-VNA