By Nguyen Huu Tuc
Vietnam is forced to decide between territorial integrity and its relationship with China.
At the 2013 Shangri-La Dialogue, one of the most substantive security dialogues in Asia, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung gave his keynote address on “Cooperation and Prosperity in the Asia-Pacific Region.” During the speech he said that, to have peace, development and prosperity, building and consolidating strategic trust is essential. I would argue that China, one of Vietnam’s closest partners, has relinquished this goodwill by losing Vietnam’s strategic trust and put Vietnam in a bind between protecting its territorial sovereignty and maintaining the status quo of its foreign policy.
From Strategic Trust
During his keynote address, Dung quoted a common Vietnamese saying, “if trust is lost, all is lost.” Trust, in his definition, is the beginning of all friendships and cooperation; the remedy that works to prevent calculations that could risk conflicts. Trust must be treasured and nurtured constantly by concrete, consistent actions in accordance with common norms and with a sincere attitude. To build strategic trust, nations need to abide by international law, uphold national responsibilities (especially of major powers), and work to improve the efficiency of multilateral security cooperation mechanisms. Working together to build and reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperation and prosperity in the region is in the shared interest of all countries.
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