Having weathered every war, Vietnam will never accept any compromise over peace, and a country that uses its military power to coercively pressure another will eventually pay a precipitous price, says Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh.

Senior Lieutenant General Vinh made the statement in an interview granted to VNExpress on the sidelines of an international conference on multilateral diplomacy held recently in Hanoi. Following are excerpts from the interview.

Gen. Vinh, How does multilateral diplomacy impact on national defence and security?

This is the first time we have organised such a conference reviewing Vietnam’s engagement in regional and global cooperation structure. The participation of globally renowned politicians and scholars is testimony to the openness in Vietnam’s foreign policy. In other words, our policymaking is transparent.

On national defence, this multilateral forum is preventing conflicts and wars.

We have attended numerous international forums, let alone this forum in Hanoi. The fact is that our voice has been recognised internationally because Vietnam not only pays attention to its interest, but links them to the interests of other countries in the region and the rest of the world.

The recent tension in the East Sea is a case in point. Vietnam’s stance [of settling of territorial disputes through peaceful means and in accordance with international law] has received great support from the international community.

You have said ‘The world is totally in chaos if a self-localized nation self-imposes its will on common problems of the world’. In fact, chaos is erupting here and there. What is your opinion of this?

In a flat world, the interests of each country depend on the common development of the whole community. If a country imposes itself on other countries for its own best interests, it will eventually have to pay the price and sooner or later suffer defeat.

It is said that a big state wins over a smaller state, yet I think this development rule will not serve the big state well if the goal is to achieve sustainable peace. A country can use its power to coercively seize interests of another country, but it will forever face irresolvable serious consequences. Peace, stability and development cannot be achieved through coercion or imposition.

Looking back on Vietnam’s history, we won all the past wars waged by foreign aggression. We won not because we were more powerful than our enemies, but the world and our foes realised that they were unjust wars.

In multilateral relations, countries’ interests are different and even contradictory. What challenges is Vietnam confronted with in defending its sovereignty, especially at various multilateral forums where Vietnam has smaller voice?

In international relations, it is a normal occurrence that a contradiction may arise from countries in defending their interests. However, countries have many things in common that can be used to settle differences. Multilateral relations are to find out the common interests for cooperation and settle differences, playing by the rules.

At the Hanoi conference on multilateral diplomacy, the Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam is shifting its position from ‘positive’ to ‘active’, contributing to building the rules. This is a common trend globally. General institutions will help countries avoid conflict and escalation.

In the face of challenges, we make public our proper behaviour, by raising the issue of not only our national sovereignty, but also the interests of other countries, notably security in the region and the world.

For example, if the East Sea is unilaterally controlled by a country, regional peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation is threatened, and this is the matter of not only Vietnam but the international community.

The biggest national defence lesson we have learnt is that a war ends in success only when it is a just or righteous war. The world should be fully aware of this lesson, so as to prevent a country taking any unilateral actions or using force against Vietnam.

Vietnam’s defence policy heightens peace and self-defence, but Vietnam will never accept peace through compromise and imposition.

Is a military cooperation agreement between countries of similar concern valuable to Vietnam given the current context?

In foreign relations in general and multilateral relations in particular, Vietnam does not target any country in defending its sovereignty. We need a consensus of all nations sharing common interests and affected if Vietnam's sovereignty is threatened.

Engaging in an alliance with a group of countries means we will restrict our interests in a local framework. The greatest strength of Vietnamese nation lies in the great national unity bloc, independence, self-reliance, and expanded relations under the motto of multilateralization and diversification of international relations.

Development must be based on trust, so how will Vietnam-China relations be improved following the recent setback?

Although there are a number of differences that need to be resolved in bilateral relations, Vietnam and China have huge interests to reconcile these differences. It is time to re-evaluate areas of bilateral relations.

China proposed putting aside disputes and developing together. We can accept this proposal only when both sides figure out where the dispute comes from, in accordance with international law, not carrying out unilateral actions, especially not using force or disguised force.

Strategic trust is developed from strategic interests. The more strategic interests, the more strategic trust grows. It is no easy task, but I believe both Vietnam and China are able to harmonise their interests for common development.

VNE/VOV/VNN