At the invitation of the Korean Ministry of National Defense, from September 8-10, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense delegation led by Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien - Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Minister of National Defense - attended the 14th Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD-14) in Korea.
This year's SDD Dialogue has the participation of about more than 1,000 officials from 68 countries and international organizations. This year's SDD-14 includes 3 plenary sessions, 3 special sessions, expert sessions and 2 working group meetings on the sidelines of the Dialogue.
The plenary sessions include: Reducing geopolitical confrontation and stabilizing strategic stability; Reducing military tensions and establishing long-term trust; enhancing future security through artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
At the 2nd Full Session with the theme "Reducing military tension and establishing long-term trust", Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien gave an important speech. He emphasized that the world is entering a new period of instability, where a spiral of suspicion and decline in strategic trust risks leading to increased tensions and arms race.
History shows that multilateral mechanisms play a key role in preventing crises, reducing stress and building long-term trust. Notable examples today include the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Huong Son Beijing Forum, Seoul Dialogue, Shangri-La Dialogue, Moscow International Security Conference and especially the ASEAN Expanded Defense Ministers' Conference (ADMM+).
Senior General Hoang Xuan Chien affirmed that Vietnam persistently pursues the policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, and is ready to be a friend and a trusted partner of all countries. In the defense sector, Vietnam adheres to the "four no's" policy of considering transparency of military information, complying with international law and committing to resolve disputes by peaceful means as a basis for building trust.
Regarding the East Sea issue, Vietnam's consistent stance is that all disputes at sea must be resolved by peaceful means, on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and strive to soon achieve a truly, effective, and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law.
To reduce military tension and establish long-term trust, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien proposed 5 groups of solutions, including: Adhering to international law; Promoting multilateralism, promoting the role of international organizations, maintaining and expanding the dialogue of national defense-security-foreign strategy assigned at all levels; Respecting independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; Increasing transparency in policies, strategies and military activities such as large-scale drills, exercises, freedom of navigation, aviation, etc.; at the same time, promoting the establishment of hotlines to handle emergency situations; Committing to cooperation for peace, building strategic trust in the region and the world.
Senior General Hoang Xuan Chien emphasized that reducing military tensions and establishing long-term trust is not only a political choice, but also an inevitable requirement to maintain peace, stability and development in the 21st century. Vietnam believes that, with sincerity, substantial trust and a sense of responsibility, the parties can jointly repel the risk of conflict, join hands to create peace and common prosperity.
