VietNamNet Bridge – It is impossible for anyone in the 21st century to bring “swords and knives” to others’ houses and do everything he wants, Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh has said.

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh (Photo: VNA)

In his interview to the Vietnam News Agency after coming back from the freshly-ended 13 th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Vinh further said that there were two major issues raised at the dialogue, namely negative signs of regional security and the behaviours of some countries getting off the track of the common moral standards and flow of the era.

Applauding Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech, Vinh said that a new approach highlighted in the Shangri-La Dialogue is that all countries do not dodge the truth.

Not only the Japanese PM and the US Secretary of Defence but also all speakers at all levels also voiced the same view that China’s actions in the East China Sea, especially its illegal placement of the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East Sea, were very serious wrongdoings that violate international law.

“And all requested China to stop its unilateral and violent acts. They were concerned that China’s actions might spread like an epidemic,” said the Deputy Minister.

If this happened, countries in the region and the rest of the world would be thrown back into previous centuries of the history when some people could take swords or knives to others’ houses and do what they wanted. “However, the 21 st century is not such period,” he said.

Regarding Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army of China Wang Guanzhong’s commitment to building a harmonious Asia and a prosperous world, Vinh said that the common desire of all the participating countries, including Vietnam, is that China matches its words and deeds.

“But what China had actually done in the East Sea showed that it says one thing and does another,” he said, adding the information released by the leader of the Chinese delegation that Vietnamese ships disturbed the Chinese rig was not true.

According to the Deputy Minister, the consideration of behaviours and strategies of each country must be based on two basic factors: national interests and international law.

“No country is allowed, for its own interests, to trample on international law. It must seek a solution that harmonises national and international interests,” he said.

“Vietnam is protecting its national interests by international law, which is very essential and needs to be encouraged and supported by the international community,” he concluded.

Source: Vietnam Plus