II. Viewpoints and solutions
Based on its correct assessments and forecasts of the world situation and the characteristics of international relations and integration, our Party advocates “developing Vietnam’s cooperative, friendly, traditional relations with neighbouring countries,” underlining that in the upcoming time it is necessary to deepen neighbourliness and especially bilateral ties in all fields, on all scales, and at all levels, with three pillars, namely Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy. Those neighbour relations must be valued under the spirit of equal and mutually beneficial cooperation and in compliance with the principles of ensuring national benefits and firmly protecting the Socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.
In fact, those neighbour relations have been well developed under the motto of being “cooperative, friendly, traditional” in accordance with aspirations of each country’s leaders and people to make significant contributions to each nation’s revolutionary cause. However, in addition to similarities, there are differences between neighbouring countries. That is also a usual practice as “even brothers in a family are sometimes in disagreement or discontent.” Therefore, it is necessary that all relevant parties should maintain cooperation to identify and reasonably settle issues in order to increase similarities, minimise differences, and consolidate neighbour relations.
To that end, it is vital to grasp the Party’s viewpoints and focus on adopting several basic solutions as follows.
1. Well settle issues on land and maritime borders with Vietnam’s neighbours and countries having overlapping sea areas with our country. In neighbour relations, borders and territories are always critical and sacred to each country. Good or bad settlement of issues relating to borders and territories will lead to corresponding consequences in various fields and have a direct effect on neighbour relations. Border-related issues should be resolved via bilateral ties under a close procedure with many steps and contents, including two major points. First, two countries sharing a border should design and complete legal documents, such as treaties, agreements, decrees, protocols, and deals which will be signed by their governments. Second, two countries should identify land and maritime boundaries, with a focus on border demarcation and marker planting in the field. Up to now, Vietnam has signed a large number of border-related legal documents with its neighbours; it has accomplished border demarcation and marker planting in the field with China and Laos; Vietnam and Cambodia have completed more than 84% of demarcation work. Vietnam has signed legal documents with its neighbours and relevant countries on maritime borders. As a member of ASEAN, Vietnam has made active contributions to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) between ASEAN and China. It is devoting effort to quickly completing the Code of Conduct for the East Sea. While well settling border-related issues and building borders of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, Vietnam and its neighbours should foster diplomatic activities at all levels, organise border defence friendship exchange programmes, maintain coordination to respond to non-traditional security challenges, environmental issues, and climate change. Doing so will help consolidate friendship between neighbouring countries and satisfy the aspirations of each country’s government and people.
2. Strengthen strategic trust between neighbouring countries. In relations between nations as well as in human relations, the key factor is trust; however, it must be long-term strategic trust. Therefore, it is thought that “you lose everything when you lose trust.” Without strategic trust, there will be nothing, and neighbour relations will not long endure. The good thing is that relations between Vietnam and its neighbouring countries have been built on trust, and such trust has been tested and forged in each nation’s history. Thus, neighbour relations have been cultivated substantially and become each country’s pride. However, in today’s complex situation, it is not easy to maintain strategic relations and trust. Therefore, we must frequently pay due attention to consolidating strategic trust and especially political trust between neighbouring countries. Strategic trust must act as the lodestar for neighbour relations. Currently, a part from neighbour relations, each country has different important relations within complex, sensitive, diverse multilateral international relations with intertwined benefits and both negative and positive impacts on neighbour relations. It can’t be ruled out hostile forces’ distortions and strategies aimed at undermining solidarity and strategic trust between neighbouring countries. For that reason, neighbouring countries must remain clear-headed in their diplomatic relations on the basis of guaranteeing strategic trust. It is more important to put neighbouring countries’ common benefits first in the settlement of relevant situations, particularly complex, sensitive issues in international relations. Countries should not pursue short-term benefits, which could negatively impact on relations with their neighbours. However, it is essential to be fully aware that without interests, there will be no relations. Therefore, due attention should be paid to adhering to the motto of mutual benefits and respecting partners’ interests. Besides, it is necessary to take the impacts of partnerships on neighbour relations into consideration.
Vietnam has deep-rooted humanistic tradition; it has always behaved properly, responsibly, faithfully in its diplomatic ties and especially in its neighbour relations. In fact, Vietnam is dedicating itself to consolidating strategic trust in neighbour relations built, preserved, and developed by relevant countries. Vietnam has earned trust and support from the international community and its neighbouring countries and obtained great prestige in the international arena, thanks to its sincerity. In the upcoming time, we should keep devoting effort to cementing strategic trust, solidarity, and friendship between neighbouring countries to make contributions to maintaining a peaceful, stable environment for cooperation and development in the region and the world.
3. Persistently settle issues, increase similarities, and decrease differences between neighbouring countries. At present, as mentioned above, in relations between neighbouring countries, in addition to a large number of similarities, there are several differences and limitations. Those differences and limitations are quite diverse in terms of content, nature, and seriousness, ranging from border, sovereignty, and territory issues and the use of water resources of Mekong River to coordination in response to non-traditional security challenges, climate change, and environmental pollution as well as search and rescue and natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control. The most difficult and complex issue is territorial claims in the East Sea by neighbouring countries and relevant nations in the region. In this regard, Vietnam has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to assert its sovereignty over Truong Sa Islands and Hoang Sa Islands. With its goodwill for peace, Vietnam clearly demonstrates its standpoint on ensuring maritime security, freedom of navigation, and freedom of the air in the East Sea. According to Vietnam, all disputes must be settled via peaceful talks on the basis of international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while the DOC and the COC (when it is accomplished) must be seriously, fully implemented. Vietnam opposes the use or threatened use of force to settle disputes. Relevant parties must refrain from complicating the situation in order to prevent conflicts and avoid negatively impacting on regional security.
In cooperation to deal with differences and disputes, neighbouring countries should consider issues objectively in good faith for benefits of all relevant parties and the region. More importantly, it is necessary to persistently step by step deal with each piece of work, resolve easy issues first, and avoid negatively impacting on neighbour relations. Grounded on partnerships between neighbouring countries, hopefully, all current differences and disputes will be gradually resolved to meet aspirations of the people of each nation.
4. Enhance the work of propagation and education to render all citizens fully aware of the importance of neighbour relations and increase their vigilance against hostile forces’ plots and artifices. People-to-people diplomacy is amongst three pillars of our country’s diplomacy, aimed at fostering Vietnam’s cooperative, friendly, traditional relations with neighbours. In order that all citizens, particularly ethnic minority people in border areas will grasp the Party’s diplomatic guidelines and foreign policies and actively, effectively take part in this task, it is vital to well conduct the work of propagation and education both directly and indirectly via central and local mass media. Doing so will enable the people to fully understand the importance of neighbour relations. Significance should be attached to making all people fully aware that neighbours are reliable friends and economic, commercial, cultural partners of Vietnam, and that cooperative relations with neighbours will bring practical benefits to national construction and development of each country. Focuses on the work of propagation and education should be placed on diplomatic activities of our Party and State as well as major political events and remarkable achievements of Vietnam and its neighbours. Currently, under the 4th industrial revolution, the development of mass media, the Internet, and social networks leads to an information explosion, with both official and harmful information. Thus, in order to well carry out the work of information and propagation, it is necessary to closely manage sources of information via both technical measures and laws. In response to fake news or sensitive issues relating to neighbour relations, it is important to proactively, opportunely well conduct the work of propagation to orientate public opinion and achieve a consensus within society about our Party and State’s guidelines and viewpoints.
There is a fact that hostile forces, with their aggressive nature and wicked intention, have been sabotaging our revolution via their “peaceful evolution” strategy. With their strategic calculation, they do not expect Vietnam to maintain good relations with its neighbouring countries, especially with China. Therefore, they have been seeking for every way to undermine our country’s friendly, traditional relations with neighbours. In fact, they ever employed distortions of history and took advantage of the East Sea situation and economic cooperation between Vietnam and its neighbouring nations to incite some people to cause public disorder. Thus, in our external information work, special attention should be paid to hostile forces’ plots and artifices. Great value should be attached to actively renewing and improving contents, forms, and methods of propagation to increase the people’s vigilance against hostile forces’ plots and artifices, prevent the people from falling into hostile forces’ “magic tricks” of distortion and incitement, and encourage all citizens to effectively participate in this intense struggle.
To conclude, those above-mentioned main solutions should be adopted in tandem with others so as to further strengthen Vietnam’s relations with neighbouring countries, produce practical outcomes for each country’s national construction and development, and make contributions to maintaining a peaceful, stable environment in the region and maximising external resources to facilitate Vietnam’s development and raise our country’s position and prestige. (The end)
QUANG HOP – MANH HA