Vietnamese FM attends EAS Ministerial Meeting

Speaking at the Summit, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed that the EAS, on the basis of shared interests and guided by the principles of mutual benefit among countries, has effectively promoted its role and values over the past 15 years, making important contributions to peace, stability and prosperous development in the region. He emphasized the need to continue to uphold these important guiding principles in order to ensure that the EAS is a mechanism for dialogue and cooperation and to reduce strategic miscalculations.

Foreign Minister Bui called on EAS partners to support equal supply of vaccines for ASEAN countries and enhance regional vaccine self-resilience through cooperation on tech transfer and regional supply chains development.

He also proposed to EAS countries to work together in order to promote recovery, strengthen the connectivity for regional and global supply chains, maintain market openness, facilitate exchanges in trade and investment, and make the most of regional economic agreement.

The Vietnamese diplomat reaffirmed the consistent principled stance of ASEAN and Viet Nam on the East Sea; emphasizing the importance of dialogue, cooperation, trust-building, the exercise of self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate the situation, and avoiding further damage to the maritime environment in the East Sea. FM Bui repeated the need to pursue peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.

The Vietnamese FM called on parties to spare every effort toward a substantive and effective COC that is in line with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS. He reaffirmed that UNCLOS 1982 remains the legal framework which regulates activities in seas and oceans, and that all rights and legitimate interests of coastal States as enlightened in UNCLOS 1982 must be respected. He made it clear that Viet Nam has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis proving its sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.

EAS emphasized the need of coordination to ensure peace, stability, security and safety of navigation and aviation, and make the East Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.

ASEAN and its EAS partners agreed to continue to uphold the multilateral approach and promote regional and international cooperation in addressing emerging challenges, effectively responding to COVID-19 and joining hands to promote a comprehensive recovery toward sustainable development.

EAS partners welcomed the role and efforts of ASEAN in promoting dialogue, reconciliation and assisting Myanmar in finding solutions to stabilize the situation. They also emphasized their support for ASEAN's successful implementation of 5-point consensus reached at the ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on April 24, 2021./.

By Nguyen Minh