28 years is a journey that marks Vietnam's positive contributions to the common development of the Association, creating the foundation for the establishment of an ASEAN Community that is politically cohesive, economically connected and shares social responsibility.
Breakthrough foreign policy
On July 28, 1995, the Vietnamese flag was raised in Brunei. Vietnam officially became the 7th member of ASEAN. This was a very correct strategic decision, opening the door for Vietnam to integrate into the world.
Previously, when referring to this decision, former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan affirmed that before joining ASEAN, Vietnam was a besieged and isolated country. When joining ASEAN, we normalized relations with all countries, including the United States. Joining ASEAN, we have a new position, as a member of a prestigious organization, from which Vietnam's influence is more important.
Looking back at the historical context of the early 1990s, the basic task of foreign affairs was clearly identified by the Party and State as consolidating and maintaining peace to focus on building and developing the socio-economy, promoting industrialization and modernization of the country.
Adjusting policies towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is not only a subjective requirement of the domestic situation, but also a matter of survival in the face of objective requirements when the world and regional situation has many changes, especially after the crisis of socialist countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Besides, Vietnam's accession to ASEAN is not only meaningful for our country but also for the region. Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Head of ASEAN SOM (2007 - 2014) said: The region (in 1995) faced new challenges of how to unite all 10 ASEAN countries that were suspicious and opposed to each other in the past. ASEAN needs Vietnam and Vietnam's accession to ASEAN opens a new chapter for the Association and the Southeast Asian region to form a community, promote its central role and contribute more to peace, stability and development in this region.
Vietnam's membership in ASEAN in 1995 paved the way for other countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia to join the bloc, turning ASEAN into a bloc of cooperative countries regardless of differences in political systems.
ASEAN with the participation of Vietnam has brought the region into a new era. Vietnam's role and mark are recognized in the process of building and forming ASEAN's strategies, orientations and development plans, especially in promoting and strengthening regional cooperation mechanisms with major partners such as the US, EU, China and India.
According to Ambassador Hoang Anh Tuan, former Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN, from its initial faltering steps, Vietnam has now become a very proactive and active member, and together with other member countries, has responded to challenges, as well as taken advantage of opportunities to contribute to very strategic issues related to peace, development and prosperity of ASEAN, contributing to promoting the position of ASEAN as well as the position of Vietnam in the region and in the international arena.
More than a quarter of a century has passed, the success and growing role of ASEAN in the past journey, together with the companionship of Vietnam, have once again demonstrated the correctness of Vietnam's decision to join this Association. Such participation not only demonstrates the proactiveness and positivity in our country's policy of multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations, but also shows the inevitable need for cooperation for peace and prosperous development of the whole region.
Affirming leadership and role in the region
The first and greatest mark that Vietnam contributed to ASEAN was to open a new stage for ASEAN to develop more strongly, more unitedly and more unifiedly, creating a new position for ASEAN in the region with all 10 member countries cooperating together, expanding relations with the outside world, becoming a central force in all multilateral processes of the region.
In the current period, Vietnam has made many important contributions to defining the goals, development directions and forming major decisions of ASEAN. It can be mentioned that it has contributed to the construction and approval of many important documents, such as: ASEAN Vision 2020, ASEAN Charter, ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and master plans for building the Community, Roadmaps for building the ASEAN Community..., along with implementation plans for each pillar of the Community and many other important agreements, especially on connectivity and narrowing the development gap.
According to Ambassador Vu Ho, Acting Head of ASEAN SOM, Vietnam is the country that initiated many ASEAN operating mechanisms, including mechanisms that continue to be central mechanisms to this day. For example, the establishment of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in 2010, ASEAN+ mechanisms, the expansion of the East Asia Summit with the participation of Russia and the United States (2010), and the establishment of the ASEAN Community (2015). These efforts have helped strengthen the international position of ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular, bringing great benefits to Vietnam in terms of security - politics and international position, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to handle challenges in the region and the world.
Vietnam has chaired ASEAN three times (1998, 2010, 2020), each time leaving a strong impression. In particular, in 2020, as ASEAN Chair, Vietnam has done a good job of leading the Association's activities, from in-person to online. Vietnam's flexibility and proactiveness have helped ASEAN stand firm and overcome the very difficult period due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vietnam's initiatives and priorities in 2020 have become the common assets of the region.
In 2021, attending the first in-person meeting of ASEAN leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed a series of initiatives such as the Plan to provide vaccines to people; establish and put into operation the ASEAN Center for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases; and restore and develop the economy during and after the pandemic, thereby demonstrating Vietnam's role, proactiveness and positivity.
Former ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi assessed that Vietnam has demonstrated "strong leadership" in leading a collective regional response to the COVID-19 pandemic. ASEAN has been united and responded quickly to the pandemic since February 2020. This once again affirms "Vietnam's leadership", especially in promoting dialogue and cooperation among member states through a series of online conferences. ASEAN can completely overcome the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic with consensus, resilience and effort.
Vietnam has also made an important contribution to consolidating and promoting ASEAN’s central role in relations with its partners. Vietnam’s initiatives and contributions have helped promote substantive and effective cooperation between ASEAN and external partners, making ASEAN a strategic partner with many important partners.
In the context of complex changes in the world and the region, Vietnam participates in the process of building principles, shaping the "rules of the game" of the region, together with ASEAN to ensure peace, security, stability, promote dialogue and cooperation. Vietnam promotes the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) to become a set of rules for relations between ASEAN countries, as well as countries outside the region. Vietnam also actively contributes to the building, through the document ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), helping to form a common stance of ASEAN, promoting cooperation on the basis of conformity with the values, basic principles and central role of ASEAN.
Regarding the East Sea issue, Vietnam and other member countries actively participated in the negotiation and signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) between ASEAN and China; as well as negotiations to soon reach an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the 42nd ASEAN Summit Retreat. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA
2023 is a pivotal year for implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, requiring synchronous, rapid and drastic efforts at all levels, sectors and fields; including contributions to the foreign affairs front in general and multilateral foreign affairs activities in particular.
As an organization of strategic importance, closely related to Vietnam's security interests, position and development, over the past 28 years, cooperation with ASEAN has always been an important pillar in Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralization, regional and international integration.
In his speech at the 42nd ASEAN Summit held in Labuan Bajo (Indonesia) in May 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh raised three core issues that determine the identity, value, vitality and prestige of ASEAN, namely maintaining independence, strategic autonomy, striving to become the center of growth, and adapting better and better to external fluctuations. On that basis, the Prime Minister affirmed Vietnam's desire to work with other countries to build the identity, value, vitality and prestige of ASEAN, while deepening the relationship between Vietnam and ASEAN countries.
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