The 70 year-history of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) has been writtenwith glorious victories, inspiring national liberation movements ofsuppressed nations around the world in the past as well as significantlycontributing to the current national defence and construction, saidAmbassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son.

In thecontext of increasingly complicated developments in many regions in theworld, the VPA has responsibly and actively participated ininternational operations, contributing to maintaining the world peace,the diplomat said at a ceremony in Paris on December 18 to mark thearmy’s 70 th anniversary.

He noted that currently,the Vietnamese army has set up ties with more than 80 countries, andsent military attachés to 36 countries. Meanwhile, 44 countries,including five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council(UNSC), have had their military attachés based in their embassies inVietnam .

Vietnam is proud of contributingits voice to the settlement of disputes in the world, especially as anon-permanent member of the UNSC during the 2008-09 tenure, he stated.

Since May this year, Vietnam has increased itsinvolvement in activities to maintain peace and security in the world byopening the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre and for the first time sendingits military officers to UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan , headded.

Highlighting the fruitful development ofbilateral relations, the ambassador said the fifth meeting of theFrance-Vietnam Defence Joint Committee, slated for 2015, will be achance for both sides to consult each other on bilateral andmultilateral strategies.

The same day, the MilitaryAttaché Office at the Vietnam Embassy in Japan also hosted aceremony to mark the VPA’s 70 th anniversary, which saw the presence ofJapanese Parliamentary Vice Minister of Defence Akira Sato and formerJapan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group Tsutomu Takebe, among200 guests.

Addressing the event, Ambassador DoanXuan Hung recalled the VPA’s 70-year history, saying that under theleadership of President Ho Chi Minh, the 34-strong army during the firstdays has become an elite force of the Vietnamese Party and people,creating historical glorious victories such as the Dien Bien Phu triumphin 1954 and the success of the Ho Chi Minh campaign in 1975.

Meanwhile, Akira Sato said that Vietnam and Japan have enjoyedfine defence cooperation with regular meetings of senior leaders andexchanges of armed forces. He expressed wish that the VPA will developmore strongly in the future, making more contributions to the region’speace and stability.

Also on December 18, a similarceremony was held in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta during whichAmbassador Nguyen Xuan Thuy affirmed Vietnam’s external defence policyof not joining any military alliance or linking with any other countryagainst a third country, and not allowing any country to place itsmilitary base in Vietnam’s territory.

He noted thatsince Vietnam and Indonesia lifted up their ties to a strategicpartnership in June 2013, bilateral cooperation, especially in defence,has been strengthened, benefiting both peoples as well as contributingto peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

The Vietnamese Government and military highly value Indonesia ’scooperation and assistance, he said, adding that the two armies’ mutualsupport will help tighten the traditional friendship between the twopeoples.-VNA