On the evening of May 29 (local time), in Singapore, General Secretary and President To Lam attended and delivered the opening speech at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue with the theme "Proactively building peace - stability - development in a volatile world".
Speaking at the dialogue, General Secretary and President To Lam stated clearly that the world is facing many risks and uncertainties. The current instability reflects 3 fundamental crises taking place simultaneously and affecting each other. These are the international order crisis, the development model crisis and the strategic trust crisis.
The General Secretary and President emphasized that the 3 crises mentioned above are clearly converging in the Asia-Pacific region. Precisely because it is a place where challenges converge, the Asia-Pacific region must also be the starting point for solutions.
From that perspective, the General Secretary and President shared some orientations to jointly build a peaceful, stable, developed, self-reliant Asia-Pacific with the ability to reduce risks early and remotely.
The General Secretary and President said that it is necessary to make laws and dialogue effective means of minimizing real risks. It is necessary to build an open, inclusive regional structure and take the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the center. It is necessary to put human security and social resilience at the center of sustainable security. It is necessary to strengthen social foundations and resilience; protect information space and raise awareness. It is necessary to improve preventive diplomacy, mediation and intermediation capacity in the region.
With influential partners inside and outside the region, Vietnam wishes to send a sincere message: Asia-Pacific is an open space, all countries with legitimate interests can contribute to peace, stability and development. The region welcomes a transparent, responsible presence, respect for international law, supports ASEAN's central role and contributes to reducing tensions. The region's desire is not the pure presence or absence of any major country, but a responsible commitment. Recognizing competition is inevitable, but competition must be placed within the limits of law, transparency and self-restraint.
The General Secretary and President emphasized that Asia-Pacific's choice today is not between competition or non-competition, because competition is a reality of international relations. The more important choice is between uncontrolled competition and responsible coexistence; between division and dialogue; between suspicion, coercion and an order based on rules and trust. Vietnam believes that our region has enough bravery and common interests to choose the path of peace, cooperation and prosperity.
General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that peace, stability and development are common denominators of all nations and peoples. But peace, stability and development are only meaningful when they are transformed into specific actions, restraining against disagreements, dialogue when differences increase, cooperation when challenges cross borders, and building risk-reducing mechanisms that can operate in practice.
Vietnam is ready to work with countries inside and outside the region to strengthen laws, build trust, promote dialogue, strengthen cooperation, minimize risks and jointly build a safer, more resilient and prosperous Asia-Pacific.
