(attachment 6) Japan-Vietnam Defense Ministerial Meeting (Summary)

October 24, 2017
Ministry of Defense
(Provisional Translation)

On October 24th, 2017, Defense Minister Onodera, who was visiting the Philippines to attend the 4th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), held a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich. The summary of the meeting is as follows:

1. Opening Remarks

In the beginning, Minister Onodera welcomed the advancement of defense cooperation between Japan and Vietnam, and stated that Japan would further enhance cooperation with the defense authorities of Vietnam which will be the ASEAN Dialogue Coordinator for Japan from next year. Minister Ngo Xuan Lich congratulated the re-election of Minister Onodera and the victory in the snap election. Minister Ngo Xuan Lich also stated that active defense exchange between Japan and Vietnam is a pillar for the Japan-Vietnam relation and that he is willing to continue enhancing cooperation.

2. Japan-Vietnam Defense Cooperation and Exchanges

Minister Onodera stated that he would like to enhance defense cooperation and exchanges in various fields including exchanges between services, maritime security and capacity building assistance. Minister Ngo Xuan Lich showed his appreciation for Japan's past assistance and stated that defense cooperation and exchanges between Japan and Vietnam have been steadily advancing in a wide range of fields and that he would like to continue to advance this cooperation step by step.

3. Regional Security

Regarding the situation in North Korea, Minister Onodera stated that frequent reckless actions taken by North Korea are grave and imminent threat to the security in the region. Both Ministers also confirmed to work in cooperation including strictly implementing a series of United Nations Security Council Resolutions.In addition, regarding the situation in the South China Sea, both Ministers confirmed the importance of maintaining the maritime order based on international law and agreed that attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by coercion should not be acceptable.