From August 29-31, a high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, led by General Phan Van Giang, Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, and Minister of National Defense, paid an official visit to the Philippines at the invitation of Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro.
At the meeting with Minister Gilberto Teodoro, Minister Phan Van Giang affirmed that Vietnam has always been consistent with its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, development, multilateralization, and diversification of foreign relations; attaching importance to developing friendly relations with countries, including the Philippines. Minister Gilberto Teodoro emphasized that the Philippines attaches great importance to consolidating and strengthening the Strategic Partnership with Vietnam, and is determined to work with Vietnam to develop bilateral relations in a deep, comprehensive, and sustainable manner, contributing positively to peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and the world. The two ministers emphasized that Vietnam and the Philippines are two countries that share a maritime border and are both active and responsible members of the ASEAN Community; assessing that the two sides have great potential for cooperation in areas such as maritime security and safety; logistics; military medicine; defense industry, etc.
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| View of the meeting. (Photo: People's Army Newspaper) |
The two sides affirmed to continue to effectively maintain existing cooperation mechanisms to share views on strategic issues, increase trust and mutual understanding; promote training cooperation, cooperation between military branches and services; coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums and mechanisms. The two sides discussed a number of international and regional issues; agreed on the importance of peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; reaffirmed the stance of resolving disputes through peaceful measures, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), towards an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC); emphasized the important role of the Ministry of National Defense and the army in dealing with and resolving issues at sea. At the end of the talks, Minister Phan Van Giang and Minister Gilberto Teodoro witnessed the signing of the Letter of Intent between the two Ministries of National Defense on enhancing cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance and maritime disaster relief; the Letter of Intent between the two Ministries of National Defense on enhancing cooperation in the field of military medicine. On August 30, General Phan Van Giang paid a courtesy call to Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. At the meeting, General Phan Van Giang respectfully conveyed the greetings and best wishes of General Secretary and President To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man to President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.; affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to the strategic partnership with the Philippines. General Phan Van Giang hopes that the Philippine Government and the President personally will continue to pay attention to and support the two countries' Ministries of National Defense to sign an agreement on defense cooperation to replace the agreement signed in 2010, support the establishment of a hotline mechanism between the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard to improve the effectiveness of coordination in handling non-traditional security issues at sea; hope that the two sides will continue to strengthen coordination and humanely handle cases of fishermen violating each other's waters, promptly share information and stances on issues of mutual concern. President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. highly appreciated the socio-economic development achievements and outstanding foreign affairs achievements that Vietnam has achieved in recent times; affirmed that Vietnam continues to be the Philippines' only strategic partner in ASEAN; expressed his delight at the relationship between the two countries, including defense cooperation, which has continuously developed deeply and extensively. During the visit, Minister Phan Van Giang and the delegation visited and worked with the Philippine Navy Command, visited the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines, offered flowers at the Ho Chi Minh Monument and laid flowers at the Rizal Monument in Rizal Park in Manila.
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