By AFP  January 22, 2018 | 08:35 am GMT+7 U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis walks from a meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 9, 2018. Photo by Reuters/Joshua Roberts In Vietnam, Jim Mattis and his counterparts are set to discuss freedom of movement in the South China Sea. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday began a one-week trip to Asia, hoping to strengthen defense cooperation with Indonesia and Vietnam as regional Chinese military power looms ever larger. “We share the Pacific – it’s an ocean named for peace – we would like to see it remain peaceful, so all the nations that use it and live here are prosperous,” Mattis told reporters accompanying him on a military plane headed to the region. In Jakarta, where he is to arrive Monday evening, Mattis is to meet on Tuesday with President Joko Widodo and Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu for talks on maritime cooperation. The vast Indonesian archipelago reaches from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. In Vietnam, Mattis and his counterparts are set to discuss freedom of movement in the South China Sea, a region over which Beijing has extended its dominance in recent years, militarizing several small, disputed islands. The waters is known as the East Sea in Vietnam. Washington hopes to draw a contrast between its own approach and those of China – seen as aggressively modernizing its military capacities – and Russia, which has annexed parts of Georgia and Ukraine. “The point I… [Read full story]
South China Sea, about 210 km (130 miles) offshore of Vietnam May 15, 2014. US President Barack Obama sought to reassure allies in Asia last month that the United States would support them in the face of a more assertive China. But after one of Beijing's boldest moves in years to lay claim to contested waters off Vietnam, some Asia countries are asking a simple question: Where is Washington? Days after Obama left the region, China deployed an oil drilling rig 150 miles off the coast of Vietnam, into a part of the South China Sea claimed by itself and…... [read more]
Children across Asia draw out happiness (14-08-2008) HA NOI — A collection of ASEAN children's happy drawings called What Makes Me Happy is displayed at an exhibition in Singapore which was an initiative of young Singaporean artist Peter Zhuo Ying Wei (Peter Draw), who made a five-week journey across 10 ASEAN countries and drew "happiness" with over 10,000 children in primary schools, city streets and homes in the region. "I was truly touched by the warmth and smiles that welcomed us everywhere, and the universal language of drawing that connected us," Peter said. Peter said he was extremely fortunate to…... [read more]
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit Vietnam next year at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart, Phung Quang Thanh. Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh (R) meets with his US counterpart, Chuck Hagel, on the sidelines of ADMM+ in Brunei August 28 - Photo: AP The US Department of Defense's website said Hagel accepted Thanh's invitation during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM), Southeast Asia's most important annual defense ministers' conference, in Brunei Wednesday. Hagel expressed his commitment to growing the bilateral defense relationship with Vietnam and working on issues…... [read more]
(VOVworld) - US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will hold a series of meetings with senior Asian defense officials in the first half of next month to bolster Washington's commitment to its rebalancing in Asia-Pacific region. The Pentagon's Thursday press release said that Hagel will attend the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which will take place in Hawaii, the US, next week. Delegates are to discuss measures on improving partnerships between military and civilian agencies to improve humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts in addition to security cooperation. From Hawaii, Hagel will travel to Japan, China,…... [read more]
VGP - PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng on October 11 in Hà Nội warmly welcomed US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who is present in Việt Nam for the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+). In the context of the increasingly fine bilateral relations after 15 years of diplomatic establishment, the visit of Mr. Robert Gates would serve to boost the bilateral linkages, said PM Dũng. The Government chief asserted that the Vietnamese Government would do its utmost to link hands with the US to build the friendly partnership and comprehensive cooperation on the basis of fairness, mutual respect and benefits. While…... [read more]
