PANO – The high-ranking Vietnamese mission, led by General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, attended the 13th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM-13) under the theme “Promoting Defence Cooperation for a Dynamic ASEAN Community” in Vientiane, Laos on March 14th and made good contributions to its success.
Peace and stability for development and prosperity
Addressing the opening ceremony, Lieutenant General Suvon Luongbunmi, Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People’s Army and Chairman of the ACDFIM-13, underlined that the ACDFIM-13 is an important event hosted by Laos right after the establishment of the ASEAN Community.
The current complicated developments of regional and global security have seen both opportunities and challenges and this has required nations to beef up cooperation for the sake of peace, security, stability and development, in accordance with the common aspiration of people in the region, he added.
General Do Ba Ty at the event
After listening to reports of the 13th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM-13) and the 6th ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting (AMOIM-6), the head delegates exchanged views on the cooperation between ASEAN member armies and regional security.
They agreed that the complicated developments of non-traditional security challenges, such as natural disasters, climate change, trans-national crimes, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cyber and maritime security, and terrorism continue threatening the regional peace, stability, security and prosperity. In order to effectively deal with these aforementioned situations, ASEAN member countries should continually promote their defence cooperation along the principles of respecting each State’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Additionally, they urged the involved parties to seriously implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea or South China Sea (DOC) and shortly reach the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) to contribute to ensuring peace and stability and boosting the economy in the region.
The Filipino head delegate affirmed that a code of conduct between ASEAN member countries and China would minimize conflict potential in the East Sea and pave the way for peaceful settlement of their disputes on the basis of international law. He added that ASEAN member countries should show a common standpoint on the situation in the East Sea.
As for the impact of relations between powerful countries on the regional security situation, Major General Perry Lim, Chief of the Defence Force of Singapore, held that the USA-China ties have a strong influence on the peaceful development in the region. As many as 50 per cent of all commercial goods worldwide, including those transported between ASEAN-the USA and ASEAN-China, and one-third of the world’s crude oil, travel through the East Sea. Hence, it is necessary to ensure stability in the sea and strategic competition between powers should be carefully managed while all countries should fully respect navigation and aviation freedom in the East Sea.
Promoting trust building among military forces at sea
For his part, General Do Ba Ty emphasised that with regard to the regional security situation in the coming time, peace will remain the major trend. However, ASEAN has been facing many challenges, such as terrorism, racial conflicts, navigation and aviation freedom in the East Sea, violations of international law including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and natural disasters, which demand effective cooperation among all nations in the region.
The Vietnamese general suggested these states to further heighten their cooperation in sharing information and experience to tackle non-traditional challenges, especially terrorism. Vietnam strongly opposes terrorist activities in any forms and is willing to shake hands with others to address this issue in the principles of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, and not intervening in each other’s internal affairs.
He also stressed the important role of building mutual trust among law enforcement forces in the East Sea on the basis of international law, especially the UNCLOS 1982 and DOC, and urged them to support troubled fishermen and offer humanitarian treatment for them on the grounds of international law and friendship between the countries.
In addition, General Do Ba Ty briefed the participants of the active participation of the Vietnam People’s Army in ASEAN’s common programs over recent years, particularly in the Peacekeeping Operations and Humanitarian Mine Action Field Training Exercise in India, the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise within the ASEAN Regional Forum in Malaysia, and the International Fleet Review in India. In the coming time, Vietnam will send forces to the Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo in Indonesia and the Navigation Security and Anti-terrorism Exercise in Brunei and Singapore.
ACDFIM-13 joint statement
Addressing the closing ceremony, Lieutenant General Suvon Luongbunmi, Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People’s Army, held that all the discussed issues would help boost defence cooperation among ASEAN member countries for the sake of peace, security and stability in the region.
He handed over the symbol flag of ACDFIM to the head of the delegation from the Philippines, the next host of the ACDFIM-14.
At the end of the event, the heads of participating delegations signed a joint statement of ACDFIM-13, which mentions many regional security issues, including the necessity of strictly implementing the DOC and the early completion of the COC to maintain a peaceful environment in the East Sea.
* On the sidelines of the ACDFIM-13, General Do Ba Ty met with Major General Perry Lim, Chief of the Defence Force of Singapore.
* The same day, they paid the Lao Prime Minister a courtesy call.
Written by Bao Trung from Vientiane, Laos
Translated by Van Hieu
Related stories:
>> ACDFIM-13 kicked off in Vientiane
>> Chief of General Staff holds bilateral meetings on ACDFIM-13’s sidelines
Fostering cooperation ahead of security threats Related image(s)
0 comments:
Post a Comment