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Mar 27, 2019 / 17:09

Vietnam, US look to advance maritime security ties

Maritime security is among four aspects discussed by the two countries` senior officials.

The 10th Vietnam-US political, security, and defense dialogue took place in Washington D.C on March 25 with a focus on maritime security among four aspects. 
 
The 10th Vietnam-US political, security, and defense dialogue in Washington D.C. Photo: MOFA
The 10th Vietnam-US political, security, and defense dialogue in Washington D.C. Photo: MOFA
At the event led by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and the US's Under State Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson, the two sides discussed measures to continue implementing the Joint Statement on Defense Relations signed in 2015, which puts focal points on (i) maritime security, (ii) post-war unexploded ordnance (UXO) settlement, (iii) soon launching of dioxin cleanup project in Bien Hoa airport, (iv) searching soldiers missing in the war. 

Maritime security has been discussed in depth in talks between Bui Thanh Son and Deputy National Security Advisor Charles Kupperman and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver. 

The senior officials put the tensions in the South China Sea on the table. The US side reiterated its strong commitments to ensuring the free and open India-Pacific. Washington reaffirmed its stance on the free maritime and air navigation in the sea, calling for substantive implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and actions towards the completion of a Code of Conduct (COC) in the disputed region.

The two sides highlighted the improvements in politics with high-ranking visits, including visits paid by US President Donald Trump, State Secretary Mike Pompeo, among others during the Trump-Kim summit held in Hanoi late February. 

And both countries agreed to strengthen partnership through exchange visits between top leaders in the time to come. Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong is slated to pay an official visit Washington this year.

 
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and US Under State Secretary Andrea Thompson. Photo: MOFA
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and US Under State Secretary Andrea Thompson. Photo: MOFA
In terms of defense, the close partnership was marked through two visits paid to Hanoi in 2018 by Defense Secretary James Mattis, the docking of a US aircraft carrier in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the completion of a dioxin cleanup project in the central coastal city of Danang.  

In terms of security, the countries’ police have cooperated in cyber security, anti-human trafficking, drug smuggling, and anti-transnational crimes.