Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Peter Tesch, Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Industry at Australia’s Department of Defence, co-chaired the two countries’ fifth defence policy dialogue on Wednesday. At the virtual event, the two shared a common stance on the East Sea/South China Sea issue and underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in those waters, and settling disputes at sea by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The two leaders called for fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and speeding up negotiations to soon achieve a Code of Conduct (COC) in line with international law.

The two agreed to continue to maintain and foster defence ties and approved a three-year bilateral defence cooperation plan until 2024.

They said that both countries are responsible members of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and regularly consult and support each other at regional forums.

Source: VOV5