Defence diplomacy is a part of national diplomacy and plays an increasingly important role in the cause of national construction and defence. Especially now, as our country’s international integration has become deeper and broader in all fields, national diplomacy in general, defence diplomacy in particular has become more and more important and urgent. This requires the Military to implement synchronous solutions to fulfill this task, creating a peaceful and stable environment for developing a peaceful and prosperous country.

In 2022, besides the major trend of peace and cooperation for mutual development, there were still many complex and rapid global and regional developments with profound impacts on every country. Vietnam, thanks to the leadership of the Party and the high determination of the whole political system, the Military and the People, gradually adapted to the situation to safely and flexibly control the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing the whole society back to normal state; our economy continued to develop, the society was stable, and national defence and security were strengthened. The Military stepped up the implementation of the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress, the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress; and comprehensively carried out military and defence work; including defence diplomacy. Despite the heavy workload of defence diplomacy and the influence of complicated factors, including many challenges and alterations, with high political determination and proactive and creative spirit, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence successfully led and directed the comprehensive implementation of many solutions and achieved many important results, contributing to the maintenance of peace and stability for our country and the cause of firmly defending the Motherland; and elevating the prestige and position of our country and the Military. Notably, on the basis of thoroughly grasping the Party’s foreign policy, and the State’s policies and legislations, the Military comprehensively implemented the work of defence diplomacy and carefully and effectively handled the relations with major powers. The Military also did a good job of studying, forecasting, and grasping the developments of the international and regional situation; promptly advised the Party and State in planning many important foreign policy strategies and projects; step by step complemented international integration and diplomatic institutions, creating a legal basis for solving international relations issues and implementing defence diplomacy activities. The fields of defence cooperation were expanded and promoted with a higher frequency than previous years.

Bilateral defence cooperation between our country and other countries, especially neighbouring ones and important partners, was consolidated and strengthened. We also focused on cross-border diplomacy, delegation exchanges among armed services and corps, cooperation in maritime security, cooperation for the neutralisation of the effects of war, defence industry cooperation, etc. In addition, we emphasised on balancing relations with other countries, contributing to trust enhancement in international relations in order to create a peaceful and stable environment for national development and improve our defence capability. Besides, multilateral defence diplomacy was effectively implemented; cooperation activities, defence exhibitions, and international military sports festivals were paid special attention and achieved good results; our UN peacekeeping forces were expanded and reformed in terms of scope and fields with improved operational quality; and we also participated responsibly in regional and international security and defence conferences and forums, contributing many important initiatives for regional peace and stability, which were highly regarded by the international and regional community. There was also close and effective cooperation among units and agencies within the Military, as well as between the Military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and related local authorities. Additionally, the propaganda and information dissemination work on defence was reformed in accordance with pre-determined principles and orientation, ensuring the concealment of military and national secrets and contributing to the promotion of the credibility and position of the Military and the country.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien speaks at the review of defence diplomacy work of 2022

In the coming time, there will be further complicated, rapid, and unpredictable developments in the world and the region; strategic competition among major powers, local conflicts, etc., along with traditional and non-traditional security challenges, have become more intense, leading to the adjustment of foreign policies and behaviour of foreign countries in international relations. There are many potential risks in the East Sea that can destabilise the region. In our country, besides favourable factors, adversary forces have stepped up their sabotaging acts in all fields, including defence diplomacy. Under this context, the Military must proactively study and firmly and accurately grasp and assess the situation; actively innovate the work of defence diplomacy; and simultaneously advise higher authorities and implement uniformed guidelines and solutions to improve the quality of the work of defence diplomacy to ensure the initiative in any situation for the firm defence of the Motherland. In particular, the Military must focus on the following tasks and solutions:

1. Continue to firmly grasp and comprehensively implement the work of defence diplomacy in accordance with the Party’s foreign policy and the State’s policies and laws. This is the most important issue to ensure the correct direction and objectives of defence diplomacy activities under the overall national foreign policy, enhancing our “soft” military power and the capability to defend the Motherland. Therefore, Party committees and commanders of agencies, units and schools in the Military, especially Military Region Commands, the Navy, the Border Guard, and the Coast Guard, etc., need to focus on thoroughly grasping, and successfully implementing the foreign policy identified in the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress, the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress, Resolution No. 806-NQ/QUTW, dated 31 December 2013 of the Central Military Commission on international integration and defence diplomacy to 2020 and the following years, and Decree No. 22/2016/ND-CP, dated March 31, 2016, of the Government stipulating on defence diplomacy, etc. Also, the Military must focus on the education and propagation for cadres, soldiers and units engaging in diplomatic activities to ensure that they have a firm grasp of the views, goals, requirements, principles, tasks, etc. of our defence diplomacy policy. In addition, specialised foreign affairs agencies at all levels must continue to study and advise the Party committees and commanders to issue resolutions and develop programs and plans to implement diplomatic activities in 2023 in accordance with the guidelines of the Central Military Commission, and the characteristics of the relevant tasks, locations, and foreign partners, and carry out assessments on the results of the work in a serious and timely manner and take these as a basis for improving the quality of defence diplomacy work in the next period.

2. Strengthen the work of studying, forecasting, and advising at the strategic level on defence diplomacy. In the face of rapid and complicated developments in the security and political situation in the world and in the region, functional agencies, especially the Department of Foreign Affairs under the Ministry of National Defence, need to closely coordinate with other agencies and units in the Military to step up the work of studying, forecasting and assessing the situation, especially the moves and adjustments of defence, security and foreign strategies of major powers. Additionally, we must focus on studying, assessing and identifying the intentions, purposes and nature of adjustments in foreign policies and strategies of major and regional powers; and conduct deep and comprehensive analyses to clarify advantages, disadvantages, as well as positive and negative impacts on international cooperation, defence diplomacy activities and our task of protecting national sovereignty, border and waters of our Motherland. Especially, we must heavily emphasise the forecast of potential risks, destabilising factors, and unexpected behaviours and responses of countries that can threaten the peace and stability of region and our country. On that basis, the Military must promtly and correctly recommend policies and solutions for the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to handle defence and security matters, especially sensitive and complicated ones, in an effective and timely manner.

3. Continue to innovate and improve the quality of defence diplomacy work in accordance with the “proactive, active, robust, flexible and effective” principle. The Military, including all branches and forces, must continue to be innovative, creative, proactive in international integration; steadfast in principle, flexible in strategy; and independent and self-reliant in international cooperation. In addition, we must implement uniformed cooperation policies and measures with all countries and partners, with priority given to neighbouring countries, major powers, ASEAN members, and traditional friends. Also, the Military must actively participate and make more contributions to regional and international security structures and forums, focusing on participating in defence cooperation mechanisms within the ASEAN framework; proactively take initiative, performing leadership role in a number of areas that we have advantages; enhance the participation in the UN peacekeeping operations and Army Games 2023. In addition, we must expand and promote cooperation in the fields of maritime security, neutralisation the impacts of war, military technology training, defence industry, etc. with traditional partners, major powers, important partners and ASEAN members; strengthen the promotion of  joint ventures and cooperation in the production of economic and defence commodities for domestic and foreign markets. Besides, the Military must standardise and implement delegation exchanges with other countries’ military in an effective, coherent and safe manner; and focus on the realisation of ratified plans, projects and memoranda on defence cooperation with other countries. The Military must also work closely with central and local departments, ministries, and branches as well as Vietnam’s diplomatic missions in other countries to effectively organise high-level diplomatic activities for leaders of the Party, the State, the Ministry of National Defence, general departments, military regions, services, and equivalent authorities. Additionally, we must improve the quality of the implemenation of the border diplomacy mechanism; and diversify the form and organisation of friendly exchanges between the people and military units of the two sides at all levels in border areas, building borderlines of peace, friendship, cooperation and development.

4. Focus on complementing related legislations to create a legal basis for the implementation of defence diplomacy activities. International integration and defence diplomacy are critical matters of our country, directed and implemented by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, aiming to realise the dual goal of mobilising external resources to speed up our military modernisation, strengthening our defence capability to firmly defend our Motherland and combining different diplomatic channels to create a peaceful, stable and secured environment of the construction and development of the country. This is an important task, involving many components, forces, and fields both inside and outside the Military, both at home and abroad. Therefore, functional agencies of the Ministry of National Defence need to closely coordinate with relevant agencies, units and forces in studying, developing, supplementing, and perfecting the system of legislations on international integration and defence diplomacy to ensure that these legal documents are coherent, uniformed, suitable to the characteristics, tasks and practical operations of the Military; and in accordance with the Party's foreign policy and guidelines, the State's laws, international laws and norms; creating a legal corridor and the most favourable mechanism possible to effectively conduct defence diplomacy activities. In the immediate future, it is necessary to focus on advising the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to finalise and approve the Strategy for international integration and defence diplomacy to 2030 and the following years through the Politburo; develop a plan to implement the Strategy throughout the Military; organise a review of Decree No. 104/2012/ND-CP, dated December 5, 2012, of the Government on Regulations for port calls of foreign military ships in Vietnam; summarising 10 years of implementation of Resolution No. 806/NQ-QUTW, dated December 31, 2013, of the Central Military Commission on international integration and defence diplomacy to 2020 and the following years; studying and proposing a dossier for the formulation of the Law on participation in peacekeeping operations; and issuing circulars on defence diplomacy and enacting these documents in the Military.

5. Build and promote the role of the defence diplomacy agencies and cadres in performing their tasks. Defence diplomacy agencies and cadres play the key role in realising the Party and the State’s foreign policy and defence diplomacy. Therefore, Party committees and commanders at all levels need to pay attention to and regularly consolidate the organisation and building of a system of strong and comprehensive foreign affairs agencies at all levels in association with the policy and roadmap of the current military restructure, ensuring a reasonable organisation and composition with high professional quality, able to advise and successfully implement the foreign affairs tasks of relevant agencies, units, and branches. In particular, we must focus on building strategic and operational-level foreign affairs agencies, foreign affairs agencies of provincial border guards and military commands, and naval and coast guard regions, etc. and units, that regularly involve in activities with foreign partners. Also, it is necessary to focus on effectively implementing the work of recruiting, training, and building high-quality human resource for defence diplomacy activities. Furthermore, we must regularly educate cadres to enhance their revolutionary morality, knowledge, and professional, foreign language, and diplomatic skills under the context of deep and broad international integration and globalisation. At the same time, there should be adequate material condition for defence diplomacy activities for both domestic and overseas contingents. Also, we must fully and effectively implement mechanisms and policies related to personnel planning, rotation and employment for defence diplomacy cadres to make them more enthusiastic and dedicated to their jobs, thus contributing to the strengthening of our defence capability, ensuring a robust defence of our Vietnam Socialist Motherland.

Sr. Lt. Gen. HOANG XUAN CHIEN, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Minister of National Defence