Vietnamese Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich (C) at the first plenary session of the 17th Shangri-La in Singapore (Source: VNA) Singapore (VNA) - The 17th Shangri-LaDialogue closed in Singapore on June 3 after three days of sitting, featuring fiveplenary meetings and four simultaneous sessions.
Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich led theVietnamese delegation to the dialogue.
Apart from a keynote address delivered by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi atthe opening session, representatives from member nations of the dialoguefocused on discussing and showing their opinions in main topics such as USleadership and the challenges of Indo-Pacific security, de-escalating thecrisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, shaping Asia’s evolvingsecurity order, new dimensions of terrorism and counter-terrorism and raisingthe bar for regional security cooperation.
Vietnamese Defence Minister General Lich presenteda speech, which affirmed Vietnam’s stance and defence policy, contributing toanalysing and shaping the changing security order in Asia in general and in theAsia Pacific region in particular.
Speaking at the final plenary session, Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Henstressed that despite international order in both security and trade builtafter World War II has not been broken, regional developments and changes inthe power balance of big countries are making the order in the Asia-Pacificchange.
Notably, some unilateral actions by the US in adjusting and imposing tradepolicies, and the deployment of China’s military ammunition systems in the EastSea are going counter to existing principles and raising security challenges inthe region, he noted.
He urged involved parties to strengthen coordination in building andconsolidating an order based on international law in order to maintain developmentand prosperity in the region.
Convened by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies(IISS), the Shangri-La Dialogue is the most important regular gathering ofdefence professionals in the Asia-Pacific, a vital annual fixture in thediaries of ministers and their civilian and military chiefs of staff.
Since its launch in 2002, the Dialogue has builtconfidence and fostered security cooperation by facilitating easy communicationamong the region’s most important defence and security policy-makers.-VNA
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