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Asia said goodbye to 2011 with many events, that are said to make long-term and positive influences on the region. US President Barrack Obama implemented a nine-day visit in the region. For the first time American and Russian chiefs of state attended the East Asia Summit (EAS), and also the first time an American Secretary of State paid a visit to Myanmar within five decades.

The United Nations judged Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide crime in Cambodia. Three Indochinese countries confirmed to promote the “Triangle of Development.” The “climate” in the East Sea and many other seas in the region has warmed up. The US and China continued a more complicated gamble on the leadership of Asia-Pacific and the entire globe.

Vietnam contributes to the “Asia concert”

In late 2011, Vietnam made outstanding high-ranking diplomatic activities, including state-level visits by Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister to China, India, Japan and some Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines and especially Myanmar. Vietnam also welcomed some high-ranking officials of many countries. Such visits are expected to open new periods in the relationships between nations and regions. The diplomatic interactive effect between Vietnam and its partners after these high-ranking visits will make long-term influences on comprehensive ties between Vietnam and related countries.

High-ranking visits are the mirror that reflects the contribution of bilateral and multilateral forums to the region’s new security structure. The discussion on “maritime security,” which is from now on understood as the East Sea dispute, at the EAS, is a typical example.

Sixteen out of 18 participating countries talked about this sensitive issue, although Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jibao confirmed before and during the EAS that China did not want to discuss this issue at this multilateral forum. But other countries still put forward the issue for discussion, without any lobby activities.

Whether this positive sign will make the relations between big and small countries in the region more balance and less tense? A Code of Conduct on the East Sea (COC) which is more legally binding between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will replace the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC) as the expectation of many countries that involve in the sovereignty dispute in the East Sea?

After the EAS was a meeting of nine countries that join the negotiation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The chiefs of state of the nine countries that pave the way for the world largest free space of trade were aware of the urgency of the global free trade agreement of the third generation. This is the form of deeper integration, in which commitments will be stronger, will cover many more areas and therefore, their impacts on the present and future of economies and of each field will be greater and more complicated.

The deeper Vietnam integrates into the region and the world, the more careful it has to prepare. Perhaps a new resolution on comprehensive integration will be issued to replace the current policy of the Politburo, which only emphasizes on only economic integration.

Directing to an integrated development strategy
Joining TPP, Vietnam will be an equal partner with 12 other members as of 2012, to together make joint commitments. If Vietnam’s road to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was rocky, the country had favorable conditions in the negotiation process for the TPP.

With the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Resolution, which has turned on the green light for “comprehensive integration,” it is favorable for Vietnamese negotiators to consider interests and anticipate challenges.

For the first time the 11th National Party Congress approved, with a majority of votes, to give up the conception that the state economic sector plays the key role in the economy and the state owns major production materials. This important policy is appropriate to the TPP’s requirements for the system of state-owned enterprises.

This shows that from now on, the foreign policy will be no longer the extension of the internal affairs. The foreign and home affairs will be in a comprehensive and integrated strategy.

For the first time, on the same day, the Party Secretary General and the President of Vietnam paid a visit to two powers, China and India.

In China, Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong met with nine standing members of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, including the current Party Chief and his successor.

In India, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and ONGC committed their long-run cooperation in oil and gas exploration.

For the first time, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung confirmed to Vietnamese people and the world Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos (Paracel and Spratly Islands), and emphasized that the solution for the East Sea dispute must base on the DOC/COC and international law.

The annual diplomatic conference was attended by the Party Secretary General and the Prime Minister. After the conference, Vietnamese ambassadors were received at the Presidential Palace. The President told diplomats to take initiative, to be creative and to timely act as advisors for the Party and the State.

Speaking at the conference, Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong stressed some lessons: national interests must be the top priority above all; independence and self-reliance must go together with international integration.

TVN