Minister of Defence Ngô Xuân Lịch (left) met with Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, on the sidelines of the 9th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in the Chinese capital city on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lương Tuấn

BEIJING — Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Minister of Defence Ngô Xuân Lịch met with Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, on the sidelines of the 9th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in the Chinese capital city on Tuesday.

At the meeting, Lịch highlighted the significance of the forum where participating countries shared their viewpoints on major regional and global security issues.

Both officers agreed that the Việt Nam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has reaped substantial and practical outcomes.

The common perceptions reached by Party and State leaders of the two countries have created a firm foundation to consolidate mutual political trust and promote bilateral ties in a healthy and sustainable manner, they said, noting that defence cooperation has become one of the pillars of the Việt Nam-China relationship.

Lịch suggested the two sides increase delegation exchanges at all levels, especially at high levels, continue to share experience in army building, maintain the ministerial-level defence policy dialogue mechanism, actively prepare for the sixth border defence friendship exchange and enhance collaboration in UN peacekeeping operations.

The officers said Việt Nam and China should hold regular talks to candidly and sincerely discuss outstanding issues in bilateral ties so as to properly address them in the spirit of high-level agreements reached by leaders of the two countries, for the sake of their people, and for peace, stability and development in the region.

Regarding the complex global and regional situation, Xu stressed the need for countries to increase dialogue and step up cooperation to maintain a peaceful and stable environment, rather than confrontations.

Lịch said joint efforts of all countries could help to cope with common security challenges.

The Vietnamese minister used the occasion to invite Xu to visit Việt Nam. The host accepted the invitation and promised to arrange a visit at the earliest opportunity. — VNS