Beijing (VNA) – The official friendly visit to China by Defence Minister Ngo Xuaꦡn Lich has achieved crucial agreements, prominently the mutual affirmation that the two sides need a peaceful environment to grow together and give priority to promoting bilateral ties, a senior o🌼fficial said.

Lieutenant General Vu Chien Thang, head of the Department for External Affairs of the Ministry of National Defence, who accompanied General Ngo Xuan Lich, talked to Vietnamese press outlets about the visit and its outcomes on August 30. General Ngo Xuan Lich is on an official friendly visit to China from August 28-31. This is his first visit to China in the capacity as Minister of Defence. On August 30, he held talks with his Chinese counterpart Sen. Lieut. Gen Chang Wanquan in Beijing. Thang said both the Vietnamese and Chinese sides shared the view that the army is a crucial factor to respective development and the defence relations form one of the pillars supporting the two countries’ ties. The defence officials frankly looked into problems still existed in the two countries’ relations, admitting candidly that those are deterrents to the current bilateral relations. They agreed to continue solving those problems by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the United Nations on the Law of the Sea 1982. They agreed that the army needs to manage the situation soundly and avoid clashes and the use of force or threat to use force while performing its duties, he stressed. Thang expressed his belief that the implementation of these agreements would strengthen mutual trust and step up bilateral cooperation intensively and extensively. Besides, he noted that the cooperation in military medicine and training and the sharing of experience would enrich the defence connection, making it an active player in boosting the two countries’ comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Looking back, the two sides agreed that their defence partnership was practical, as evidenced by the high-ranking official exchanges and those between army branches, with the one between the border guard force of the Vietnam Defence Ministry and the Chinese Security Ministry in the spotlight. Joint patrols at sea, training cooperation and the sharing of experience in participating in the UN peacekeeping missions have reaped good outcomes. The two sides reached a consensus to make efforts for bilateral defence cooperation to achieve sounder results, the official underscored. Before the China visit, General Ngo Xuan Lich toured Russia, Laos and Cambodia.-VNA