Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang is on an official visit to Japan, where a series of high-level meetings has highlighted the growing strategic and defense partnership between the two countries.

According to Japan's Ministry of Defense, the visit marks the first official trip to Japan by a Vietnamese defense minister in five years. Upon his arrival on July 12, Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro personally welcomed Gen. Phan Van Giang at the airport, underscoring the importance Tokyo attaches to the bilateral relationship.

Earlier during the visit, Gen. Phan Van Giang visited the Japan Joint Staff College in Tokyo. He was received by Miyazaki Masahisa, Japan's Vice Minister of Defense and Vice Minister of the Cabinet Office. The Vietnamese delegation was briefed on the institution's activities and toured several classrooms.

Later, Gen. Phan Van Giang met Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru, expressing his pleasure at meeting him again two years after Kihara's official visit to Vietnam in August 2024, when he served as Japan's defense minister.

During the meeting, Gen. Phan Van Giang reaffirmed that Vietnam consistently regards Japan as one of its most important and long-term partners and supports Japan's increasingly active role in promoting peace, stability, cooperation and development across the region and the world.

Vietnam, he said, wishes to work closely with Japan in advancing the strategic autonomy objectives of both countries. He described the highly successful visit to Vietnam by Japan's prime minister in early May this year as an important milestone that has created fresh momentum and opened new opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

Gen. Phan Van Giang said his current visit demonstrates Vietnam's desire to further strengthen friendship and cooperation between the two countries, particularly between their defense ministries. He also expressed appreciation to Japan's Ministry of Defense for its thoughtful arrangements and warm hospitality throughout the visit.

According to the Vietnamese defense minister, defense cooperation has become an increasingly important pillar of bilateral relations, delivering practical and substantive results.

For his part, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara Minoru praised the significance of the Vietnamese delegation's visit in further deepening bilateral cooperation, particularly between the two defense ministries.

He reaffirmed that Japan highly values cooperation with Vietnam under the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World. Kihara also stressed the Japanese government's support for closer cooperation between the two countries' armed forces and expressed confidence that bilateral defense relations would continue to achieve solid new progress.

On July 13 afternoon, at Japan's Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tokyo, Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro presided over an official welcome ceremony for Gen. Phan Van Giang before the two ministers held formal talks.

According to Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence, Gen. Phan Van Giang said he was pleased to visit Japan at a time when bilateral relations continue to develop positively across multiple sectors.

The visit, he noted, provides an opportunity for both sides to translate the shared understanding reached by the two countries' senior leaders into concrete defense cooperation, strengthen mutual trust, and expand practical collaboration between the two defense ministries.

Defense Minister Koizumi welcomed the visit as an opportunity to review the progress of bilateral defense cooperation and discuss measures to deepen future collaboration.

Defense cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has continued to expand in recent years, with both sides agreeing to strengthen exchanges of delegations, institutional dialogue mechanisms, education and training, defense industry cooperation, post-war recovery efforts, search and rescue operations, disaster response, United Nations peacekeeping activities, and mutual support at multilateral forums.

Gen. Phan Van Giang reaffirmed that Vietnam consistently pursues an independent, self-reliant, peaceful and cooperative foreign policy based on diversification and multilateralization of international relations. He emphasized that Vietnam seeks friendship with all countries while remaining firmly committed to its defense policy of the "Four No's."

During the official ceremony, the two defense ministers reviewed the guard of honor.

Regarding the East Sea, Gen. Phan Van Giang reiterated Vietnam's consistent position that disputes should be resolved peacefully in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He also called for the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the early conclusion of a substantive, effective and enforceable Code of Conduct (COC).

Gen. Phan Van Giang thanked the Japanese government for its continued support in addressing the consequences of war in Vietnam and expressed appreciation to Japan's Ministry of Defense for providing annual military scholarships for Vietnamese personnel.

He proposed maintaining the existing scholarship program while expanding undergraduate and postgraduate training opportunities in science, technology and engineering for Vietnamese military students.

Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence, he added, stands ready to welcome Japanese participants to international defense officials' courses and Vietnamese language programs offered at Vietnam's military academies.

The Vietnamese defense minister also invited leaders of Japan's Ministry of Defense, the Japan Self-Defense Forces and Japanese defense industry companies to attend the Third Vietnam International Defence Expo, scheduled for December.

For his part, Defense Minister Koizumi affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner for Japan in maintaining peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific region.

He recalled the visit to Vietnam by Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae in May, during which both countries announced the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Vision initiative. He also referred to his meeting with General Secretary and State President To Lam on the sidelines of the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, as well as the June visit to Vietnam by Gen. Uchikura Hiroaki, Chief of Staff of Japan's Joint Staff.

According to Koizumi, these high-level exchanges reflect the continued positive momentum in bilateral relations. Amid an increasingly complex international environment, closer coordination between the two defense ministries provides an essential foundation for exchanging views on regional and global issues of shared concern.

Welcoming Gen. Phan Van Giang and the high-level Vietnamese delegation, Koizumi agreed with the proposals put forward by his counterpart and reaffirmed that Japan's Ministry of Defense would work closely with Vietnam's Ministry of National Defence to implement all agreed areas of cooperation, further strengthening defense ties in line with the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Tran Thuong