East Sea Conference aims to 'narrow the grey sea, expand the blue sea'

International speakers speak at the conference

In her opening remarks at the East Sea Conference, Acting Director of the Diplomatic Academy Pham Lan Dung explained the reasons for choosing the theme of this year's conference. Accordingly, the organizing committee hopes that experts will analyze the current situation of the East Sea and the region, clarify common regulatory rules, identify policies to promote trust and cooperation, and shed light on behaviors that have negative impacts on the international rules- based order and increase tensions.

What are green zones and gray zones?

According to Ms. Pham Lan Dung, "Narrowing the gray sea" aims to make the marine space more transparent and peaceful . "Expanding the blue sea" aims to identify the potential of the sea and the future, through promoting good practices in important areas such as green transition, technologies, research and investment related to wind power, marine energy conversion, etc.

The workshop also focused on exchanging and discussing how maritime forces and regional mechanisms can contribute constructively towards the goal of a "greener" and "more peaceful" East Sea.

Speaking at the opening session, Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet highly appreciated the series of East Sea Workshops held over the past 15 years, allowing the creation of an open, frank, and friendly environment for regional and international experts to converge to enhance common understanding and narrow differences.

Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet hopes that in the next 15 years, this dialogue channel will continue to become an important, open, inclusive and creative regional maritime security forum; a meeting place and intersection of interests from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and beyond.

Workshop marking 15 years journey

Identifying new challenges

Mr. Do Hung Viet said that the global focus is continuing to shift to the Indo-Pacific region, which is becoming the "center" of global growth and an important locomotive for global recovery and future prosperity.

However, that future cannot be guaranteed without peace and sustainable stability in general and in the regional maritime space in particular.

Today, strategic competition is creating “great divisions” and “great rifts,” as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said. Conflicts are taking place in many regions of the world; in the maritime space of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, the risk of confrontation and conflict is inevitable.

Speaker Dr. Sarah Kirchberger, head of the Asia-Pacific Center for Strategy and Security at the Institute for Security Policy, Kiel University (Germany)

That situation forces Vietnam, together with the international community, to continuously identify potential threats at sea, review existing cooperation mechanisms to address emerging challenges, and act together to prevent those threats.

Compared to 15 years ago, the Deputy Minister said that the situation in the East Sea has become more complicated, with many new "gray areas" emerging that need to be clarified. In addition, the East Sea is still an area that offers many potential opportunities for cooperation.

In that context, Mr. Do Hung Viet highly appreciated the choice of the conference's theme; emphasizing that only through cooperation can we help the East Sea change its color from "gray" to "green", towards peace and sustainable development.

To do so, it is important to respect and comply with international maritime law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

The workshop witnessed the appearance of young faces

Voices of the next generation

The 15th International Conference on the East Sea took place over two days, October 25-26, with eight sessions on various topics. Among them, there were sessions that attracted attention such as "Major Powers and Major Responsibilities: Cooperation and Coexistence in the Context of Increasing Competition?", "Multilateral Approach to the East Sea: A New Trend?"; "The Role of the Coast Guard in Enhancing Cooperation in the East Sea".

Notably, for the first time this year, the conference dedicated a discussion session between representatives from the coast guard forces of several countries bordering the East Sea.

In addition, the Conference also upgraded a separate session of young leaders in the region to a plenary session on the agenda. In previous years, the program of young leaders in the region was designed as a discussion session on the sidelines of the East Sea Conference.

This year, the elevation of the Young Leaders Session to the main agenda aims to raise awareness among the next generation about the importance of peace, cooperation, the rule of law and to seek new perspectives on peaceful solutions to the East Sea dispute.

General information about the workshop

The conference was attended by more than 200 delegates attending in person and nearly 250 delegates registering to attend online. The conference brought together nearly 50 speakers who are prestigious experts from nearly 20 countries from different continents; nearly 70 delegates from foreign representative agencies in Vietnam (including nearly 20 Ambassadors and Consuls General).

Nearly 30 reporters from 21 domestic and foreign news and television agencies attended the conference. The conference was also attended by Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hai Binh, alternate member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department.

The 2023 conference will also feature special keynote sessions from a range of senior leaders including the Rt. Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific; Martin Thümmel, Commissioner for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, German Foreign Office; and Paola Pampaloni, Acting Executive Director for Asia and the Pacific at the EEAS.

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