Gen. Phan Văn Giang, Politburo member, Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Minister of National Defence of Việt Nam (right) and Sen. Lt. Gen. He Weidong, Politburo member and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China had talks in Beijing on Saturday. — VNA/VNS Photo

BEIJING — Gen. Phan Văn Giang, Politburo member, Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Minister of National Defence of Việt Nam, had talks with Sen. Lt. Gen. He Weidong, Politburo member and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, in Beijing on October 28.

Giang, who is on an official visit to China, affirmed that the Party, Government, army, and people of Việt Nam always keep in mind the enormous assistance from their Chinese counterparts for the struggle for national liberation and reunification in the past as well as the national construction at present.

In any circumstances, Việt Nam always holds the consistent viewpoint of attaching importance to building solidarity and friendship, long-term stability, strong mutual trust, and comprehensive cooperation with China, he stated.

Việt Nam is persistent in the foreign policy of independence self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, and in the defence policy of “four no’s” – no military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign military bases or use of the Vietnamese territory to oppose other countries, and no use of force or threat to use force in international relations. It always views the maintenance of a peaceful and stable security environment as one of the key factors of cooperation for common development, and welcomes all countries’ cooperation initiatives and mechanisms for the purposes of peace, stability, common development, and common interests of the region, the official went on.

Giang added that Việt Nam highly values China’s major and global cooperation initiatives for common interests such as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Civilisation Initiative, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

For his part, He noted China attaches importance to the consolidation and development of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with Viet Nam.

Speaking highly of Viet Nam’s “four no’s” defence policy, the host official stressed that defence cooperation is one of the important pillars helping promote the friendship and cooperation between the two Parties and the two States for the sake of the two peoples, as well as for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in each country, the region, and the world at large.

Both sides shared the view that a number of cooperation activities between the two armies have been carried out in 2023 after a long period of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They held that there remains much room for their countries to develop defence cooperation, and that in the future, Việt Nam and China should maintain frequent high-level mutual visits and meetings between leaders of the central military commissions and defence ministries, continue organising the border defence friendship exchange, step up sharing experience in the Party-related and political works in the armies, and consider expanding cooperation in such fields as high-quality manpower training, the defence industry, strategy studies, military medicine, along with the areas matching the countries’ strengths and demand.

With regard to the East Sea issue, they perceived that it is necessary to exchange opinions in a sincere and straightforward manner, properly control differences, jointly seek measures for settling issues appropriately and in line with the common perceptions reached between the leaders of the two Parties and the two countries, fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and soon finalise an effective and substantive code of conduct on the waters (COC) matching international law.

During the talks, Giang invited He and other leaders of the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry of China to attend the ceremony marking the 80th founding anniversary of the Việt Nam People’s Army and the second Việt Nam International Defence Expo in late 2024.

The Vietnamese official also appreciated the invitation to him to attend and address the ongoing 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, expressing his belief that the event will be successful. VNS