{"id":237705,"date":"2019-11-18T18:20:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T23:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=237705"},"modified":"2019-11-18T18:20:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T23:20:31","slug":"vietnamese-defense-minister-calls-for-unity-in-asean-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/18\/vietnamese-defense-minister-calls-for-unity-in-asean-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese defense minister calls for unity in Asean meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: ASEAN MEETINGS. Vietnamese Defense Minister General Ng\u00f4 Xu\u00e2n L\u1ecbch during the Asean Defense Ministers\u2019 Meeting (ADMM) Retreat and the sixth ADMM Plus held in Bangkok, Thailand from Nov. 16 to 19. (VNA\/VNS Photo via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BANGKOK<\/strong>\u00a0— Vietnamese Defense Minister Ng\u00f4 Xu\u00e2n L\u1ecbch called on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members to consolidate the bloc\u2019s unity, foster Asean centrality principle in the face of \u201cstrategic competition\u201d in the region between world\u2019s major powers.<\/p>\n

He made the statement during the Asean Defense Ministers\u2019 Meeting (ADMM) Retreat and the sixth ADMM Plus in Bangkok, Thailand from Nov. 16 to 19.<\/p>\n

The Vietnamese military chief also stressed the importance of compliance to international law, which he deemed \u201can effective instrument\u201d in regulating relations between countries with the goal of maintaining peace and security in the region and in the world at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny country\u2019s defiance of international law or cherry-picking interpretation of stipulations that would serve only their interests will result in lack of trust, which might eventually escalate into tensions and confrontations,\u201d L\u1ecbch said at the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe observance of international law must take the highest priority for when international law is not respected, only smaller countries \u2013 not the world\u2019s powers \u2013 would suffer the heaviest consequences,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Citing recent complicated developments on the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea) \u2013 including the stand-off between Vi\u1ec7t Nam and China when China deployed its survey ship escorted by coast guard vessels deep into Vietnamese waters and continental shelf, L\u1ecbch said to turn East Sea into a sea of peace and sustainable development, international law and practices \u2013 especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea \u2013 must be followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis required utmost commitment and responsibility form all countries within and outside the region,\u201d L\u1ecbch said, urging Asean countries to foster consensus and collective power within the bloc to flexibly and capably deal with external challenges and impacts.<\/p>\n

L\u1ecbch said as the Asean Chair 2020, Vi\u1ec7t Nam affirms its wish to promote internal connectivity, improve the efficiency of Asean-led defense cooperation mechanisms, and enhance cooperative ties with dialogue partners.<\/p>\n

Last Saturday, L\u1ecbch met Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan and Defense Minister of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto in Bangkok.<\/p>\n

He also had talks with his counterparts from Australia, Brunei, New Zealand and South Korea on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In his opening address at the meeting, Prawit thanked the defense ministers and the Asean Secretariat office for supporting the country to complete its role as the Asean Chair in 2019, and particularly successfully organized the Asean defense ministers\u2019 meetings.<\/p>\n

He spoke highly of the Asean member states\u2019 positive roles in promoting security-defense cooperation within the bloc, contributing to the maintenance of Asean\u2019s central role to effectively cope with regional challenges.<\/p>\n

The official expressed his hope that the meeting will serve as a venue for competent sides to exchange experience and opinions on defense and security issues, helping further boost collaboration in the field in the time ahead.<\/p>\n

Expanded mechanisms<\/p>\n

During an unofficial meeting between Asean defense ministers and their Japanese counterpart Taro Kano, the latter expressed support for Asean centrality in regional cooperation and expects to help Asean enhance technology capacity on the basis of Vientiane Vision 2.0.<\/p>\n

Chinese defense minister Wei Fenghe reiterated China\u2019s respect for cooperation with Asean, with military ties getting stronger in recent times.<\/p>\n

Asean defense ministers noted that activities like Asean-China maritime drill in 2018 and China-Asean Middle-Aged and Young Military Officers Friendly Exchange in 2019 have helped build up trust between the two sides.<\/p>\n

They also appreciated the progress made on the negotiation towards a working Code of Conduct on the South China Sea (COC).<\/p>\n

During an unofficial meeting with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, he stressed the US\u2019 commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific on the basis of respecting countries\u2019 sovereignty and upholding the rule of law.<\/p>\n

Asean ministers, for their part, welcomed the US\u2019 active engagement in Asean-led mechanisms, including ADMM+ and activities like joint drills.<\/p>\n

Discussions during the defense ministers’ meetings focused on cooperation in seven areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, military medicine, counter-terrorism, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian activities and cybersecurity \u2013 with the East Sea issue high on the agenda.\u00a0(VNS)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BANGKOK\u00a0— Vietnamese Defense Minister Ng\u00f4 Xu\u00e2n L\u1ecbch called on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members to consolidate the bloc\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":237706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-vns","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237707,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237705\/revisions\/237707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}