VietNamNet Bridge - The first ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) closed in Hanoi on October 12, after adopting a joint declaration that highlighted a determination towards strategic cooperation for peace, stability and development in the region.

Vietnam set for defence ministers meeting

Conflicts should be solved by peaceful measures: Vietnamese PM

Maintaining peace and stability in Southeast Asia is the desire and the common interest of all countries inside and outside the region, stressed PM Nguyen Tan Dung at the ADMM+.

“To promote this goal, all related countries should actively build and share standards and rules of conduct, especially respecting each other’s independence and sovereignty and solving conflicts by peaceful measures under the international law, including the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea 1982,” he said.

The PM expected that ADMM+ would contribute to forming a suitable structure for dealing with security issues.

He hoped that defence leaders would make clear the ties and cooperation between ADMM+ and the current forums in the region, particularly the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

He called on the countries to continue respecting and using ASEAN’s current tools to ensure peace and security in the region, like the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), the Treaty on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in Southeast Asia, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and others.

ADMM+ - a success

Vietnamese Defence Minister and the Chair of ADMM+ Phung Quang Thanh, , confirmed that ADMM+ is a forum for dialogue and the mechanism for the highest-level cooperation on defence in the region. “This is an equal and helpful forum for all participants,” he said.

“As the meeting proceeded, we have had exchanges of views on regional and international security, voluntary briefings on national defence and security policies, which together with bilateral meetings on the sidelines, have demonstrated that the ADMM+ is truly a key forum of strategic cooperation for building common understanding, mutual trust and confidence, and strengthening relationships both bilaterally and multilaterally,” the minister said.

The discussion also focused on the potential, prospects and direction of practical cooperation within the framework of ADMM+ and achieved consensus on identifying priority areas of cooperation at the initial stage, which are non-traditional security challenges, namely humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter-terrorism, military medicine, maritime security and peacekeeping operations.

The ministers agreed to entrust Vietnam with hosting the first ASEAN Defence Senior Officials Meeting Plus Working Group (ADSOM+WG) in December 2010 to promptly realize the outcomes of the first ADMM+.

General Thanh announced that the second ADMM+ will be hosted in Brunei Darussalam in 2013.

During the press conference following the meeting, Thanh said that the ministers and minister representatives reached consensus on all the identified priority areas of cooperation, and assigned defence senior officials the task of setting up working groups to build cooperation programmes, cooperation contents and specific measures.

According to the minister, several recommendations have been put forth, such as for Vietnam and China to jointly establish a working group on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and Australia and Malaysia to co-organise a working group on maritime security.

The US suggested organisation of maritime security dialogue and joint patrols to combat pirates.

General Thanh said the East Sea issue was not included in the agenda of the first ADMM+, however, several ministers mentioned security in the East Sea while discussing regional security and the security policies of each nation.

The ministers agreed that disputes in the East Sea should be addressed through peaceful measures and dialogues and in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), Thanh said, adding that Vietnam urged the concerned nations to promptly build a Regional Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The success of the first ADMM+ opened up an official mechanism for dialogue and a ministerial-level cooperation in defence and security between ASEAN members and partners, contributing to peace, stability and development in the region and the world at large, General Thanh said.

China commits to not “threaten” anyone

Chinese Minister Liang Guanglie stated at ADMM+ that China’s defence development doesn’t aim to threat or challenge anyone.

“Today peace, development and cooperation is the choice of countries in Asia and the Pacific. China’s peaceful development policy is the choice based on the current trend and its own conditions and cultural tradition,” he said.

Mr. Guanglie said that China’s defence development is to ensure China’s security and to promote peace and stability in the region and the world.

He confirmed that common security, common development and mutual benefit are China’s strategic goals in developing ties with countries in the region. China supports the central role of ASEAN in ADMM+.

Besides attending ADMM+, the Chinese Defence Minister paid an official visit to Vietnam and met with his Vietnamese, US and Japanese counterparts in Hanoi.

US re-confirms its interests in the East Sea

US Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates praised ASEAN for inviting eight defense ministers from outside its 10-nation membership to join their ASEAN counterparts to discuss regional security issues together for the first time.

In his remarks at the conference, Gates thanked the organization for providing a “broader Asian forum to allow regional defence officials to discuss issues of common interest.”

“As I have said before, the US is a Pacific nation and a resident power in Asia,” he said. “We have been for many years and will continue to be in the future. Because both our history and our future are intertwined with yours, we believe it is essential to be able to work on common security challenges together.”

The secretary noted that the nations in the region have made considerable progress in overcoming past animosities and establishing new partnerships, and he urged his counterparts to work toward taking those relationships a step further.

“What is now essential is that these bilateral relationships be supplemented by strong multilateral institutions,” he said. “These institutions enable us to build regular habits of cooperation to address shared interests, while allowing for candid discussions about those areas where we may disagree.”

Regular dialogue and cooperation among nations are the building blocks for the trust and confidence necessary for enhancing security, Gates said.

“To do so, we must establish both shared ‘rules of the road’ and pursue greater transparency – meaning that as we improve our military capabilities, we must discuss these developments together,” he added. “This provides assurance that our capabilities are not directed against others in the region and that they will be used for common ends.”

The first step, Gates said, is reaffirming commitment to four principles: Free and open commerce; A just international order that emphasizes the rights and responsibilities of nations and fidelity to the rule of law; Open access by all to the global commons of sea, air, space and cyberspace; The principle of resolving conflict without using force.

“Agreement on these fundamental principles is important now more than ever,” Gates said. “Asia faces a wide and growing range of challenges in the 21st century.”

About the conflict in the East Sea, Gates said that such conflicts would be unable to be solved successfully without the cooperation of all related countries. He also said that the US supports related countries to develop a full rule of conduct in the East Sea.

Source: VietNamNet/US Department of State/VNA