Hanoi (VNA) - The 17thASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces’ Meeting (ACDFM-17) was held online by theMinistry of National Defence on September 24 under the theme “Militarycooperation for a cohesive and responsive ASEAN”.

Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang, Chief of theGeneral Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Minister of NationalDefence, chaired the event, which was also attended by leaders of other ASEANcountries’ defence forces, heads of delegations to the 17th ASEAN MilitaryIntelligence Meeting (AMIM-17) and the 10th ASEAN Military Operations Meeting(AMOM-10), along with ambassadors and defence attachés of member states.

Participants highly valued Vietnam’s effortsamid COVID-19 to actively and effectively carry out the priorities andinitiatives in its ASEAN Chairmanship this year, including successfully organisingthe bloc’s defence - military meetings, timely proposing and realising manyinitiatives to combat the pandemic, and implementing activities within theASEAN defence and military cooperation framework.

Recognising outcomes of the earlier AMIM-17 andAMOM-10 to prepare for this meeting, they held that thanks to efforts by eachcountry and close coordination among member nations, ASEAN militaries havecarried out cooperation activities fruitfully, especially those within theframework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Experts’ Working Groups.

That has helped enhance mutual understanding andtrust and promote coordination among ASEAN militaries as well as between ASEANand partner countries, thereby contributing to regional peace and stability,and the bloc’s cooperation momentum and central role in ASEAN-led mechanisms,according to the officials.

In terms of response to COVID-19-triggered challenges,the chiefs of defence forces said the military of each member nation has showntheir core role in concurrently performing regular tasks and actively takingpart in common efforts by their countries’ governments, greatly helping tocontain the pandemic.

Regarding the global and regional situation,they shared the view that traditional and non-traditional challenges facing theregion right now, like maritime security, cyber security, terrorism,trans-national crime, climate change and the pandemic, pose threat to regionalpeace and stability.

They affirmed their support for the maintenanceof peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation in the EastSea, agreeing that ASEAN needs to persist in the principled stance ofpeacefully resolving disputes and disagreements on the basis of internationallaw, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In that context, ASEAN militaries should furtherbolster result-oriented cooperation and cohesion within the bloc so as tostrengthen mutual trust and come together to cope with challenges, helping tofulfil targets in ASEAN Community building and improve the association’scentral role in the region and the world, the officials said.

Addressing the meeting, Sen. Lt. Gen. Gianghighlighted the contributions of the Vietnam People’s Army to the COVID-19fight and echoed concerns about complex recent developments in the East Sea.

He called on countries to refrain from actionsthat may escalate tensions while increasing dialogue and cooperation to tackledisagreements on the basis of international law, particularly the 1982 UNCLOS.

Giang proposed ASEAN militaries continue promotingthe ability to coordinate with one another in joint activities and furtherbring into play the role and effectiveness of existing military cooperationmechanisms, in order to build trust, reinforce solidarity, and createcollective strength to jointly cope with common challenges, thus helping tomaintain ASEAN’s central role in a changing regional architecture for the sakeof regional peace and stability.

At the meeting, Vietnam handed over the ACDFMchairmanship to Brunei./.