Filipino teens frolic at a breakwater in Pasay City yesterday. The country braced for more rain as Tropical Storm Kong-Rey moved towards northeastern Luzon island, one week after severe floods killed 22 people and affected nearly three million people.
MANILA: The Philippines and Vietnam yesterday renewed commitments to strengthen cooperation, especially on maritime security during a courtesy call by visiting Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh to President Benigno Aquino III.
Thanh, who was in the country for an official visit from August 25 to 27, was accompanied by Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tu and Chief of International Relation Department Major General Vu Chien Thang.
Aquino was joined by Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Jose Luis Alano in welcoming Thanh.
“The visit of General Thanh to the Philippines clearly reflects the commitment of both countries to enhance cooperation in jointly developing their defence capabilities and in contributing to regional peace and stability,” the Philippine Department of National Defence said in a statement.
In a statement issued on Monday, the DND said that the two defence chiefs exchanged views on their countries’ sea disputes with China as well as the recent United States decision to focus its strategic policy on the Asia Pacific.
China is pushing for its “indisputable sovereignty” over 80 percent of the South China Sea, causing a long-standing territorial row with neighbouring Southeast Asian countries including Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan.
“Both ministers assessed joint activities of the two defence and military establishments and explored other cooperative initiatives to include humanitarian assistance and disaster relief cooperation given both countries’ experience in natural disasters,” the statement added.
Thanh, whose visit ends today, also renewed an agreement on defence cooperation with the Philippines signed in 2010.
“Defence relations between the two countries have progressed through high-level visits, personal exchanges and information-sharing. These exchanges fostered government-to-government links as well as people-to-people ties for the mutual benefit of the two countries,” the DND statement said.
The DND similarly expressed confidence in the Philippines’ relations with Vietnam in its agenda to modernise the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“The visit of General Thanh to the Philippines clearly reflects the commitment of both countries to enhance cooperation in jointly developing their defence capabilities and in contributing to regional peace and stability,” the agency said.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also visited the country for a meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario earlier this month.
“The two sides agreed to cooperate in ensuring the rule of law in the West Philippine Sea/East Sea, peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law,” foreign affairs department said.
The Philippine Star
