VietNamNet Bridge – This year Vietnam will continue its bilateral dialogues on defense, at the deputy minister level with China, India, the USA, Singapore and possibly with Japan and South Korea for the first time.
In 2010, Vietnam had dialogues of this kind with China and the USA.

The first Sino-Vietnam defense dialogue was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and his Chinese counterpart, Senior Lieutenant-general Ma Xiaotian.

At the dialogue, the two sides informed each others of their achievements in economic-social, security-defense development and their viewpoints on defense. They also exchanged views on the security and political situation in the region and the world.

The two sides confirmed the bilateral dialogue on defense is a significant mechanism to enhance mutual-understanding and mutual-trust between the two armies.

The first Vietnam-US defense dialogue took place under the chairmanship of Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Robert Scher, Assistant to the US Secretary of Defense.

The two sides exchanged defense policies, their views of the regional and international situation and discussed bilateral cooperation in defense.

They discussed issues of common concerns, including detoxification, explosive clearing, seeking missing in action soldiers, dealing with consequences of the Vietnam War, English training for Vietnamese officers and cooperation to maintain peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

So far, Vietnam has conducted defense dialogues at the deputy minister level for five times with India. The fifth dialogue took place in June 2010 in New Dehli, India, between Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and his counterpart B. Kumar.

Vietnam has also had defense dialogues with Singapore for three times. At the third dialogue last December, the two sides discussed measures to strengthen cooperation in multilateral issues and committed to continue their cooperation at security forums in the region.

PV