Freedom of navigation is a must, says Vietnam President

New Delhi: Peace and prosperity will come to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region only when all countries step in to protect the freedom of navigation and combat narrow nationalism, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said on Sunday in an apparent reference to China’s military posturing in the area.

Mr Quang also supported India’s bid to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and said his country supported New Delhi’s active participation in regional linkages and cooperation mechanisms. The visiting president said political, defence and security cooperations were the “strategic pillars” of bilateral relations and emphasised the effective implementation of the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Referring to the Indian Ocean, Asia and the Pacific, Mr Quang said though the region was creating new drivers for growth, it faced “notable intertwined challenges”. It was also the “core theatre” in the competition for power and influence among major powers, he added.

Delivering a lecture on Vietnam-India relations here, he said the aspiration that the next century becomes the “Indo-Asia-Pacific century” can be realised if all countries share a common vision for an open and rule-based region, and a common interest in the maintenance of peace, stability, and inclusive prosperity, “wherein no country, no nation, and no group shall be left behind”.

“The aspiration (for the Indo-Asia-Pacific century) will come true when all countries join in the effort to protect the freedom of navigation and unimpeded trade and not let the Indo-Asia-Pacific be balkanised into spheres of influence manipulated by power politics, hindered by protectionism, or divided by narrow nationalism,” the Vietnamese president said. The president’s remarks come a day after India and Vietnam vowed to join hands for  thriving Indo-Pacific rule-based regional security.