Australia’s Asiapacificnews newspaper on September 15 posted an article praising Vietnam’s international prestige, in which it recognized Vietnam’s active contribution to realizing the targets and programs of the United Nations since its accession to the organization in 1977.
According to the article, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Australian expert Carlyle Thayer, have highlighted Vietnam's remarkable achievements over the past 75 years, especially its diplomatic and military milestones.
The article posted on Asiapacificnews on September 15
“In his warmest congratulations to the Vietnamese Government and people on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country's National Day (September 2), UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres praised Vietnam for being always a strong partner since its entry to the world’s largest, most familiar, most internationally represented and most powerful intergovernmental organization in 1977,” the article said.
The Vietnamese army has been joining the UN's peacekeeping activities, and Vietnam's leading role in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals lays a solid foundation for the country to implement the Sustainable Development Program 2020, Guterres noted. The vision and aspiration of the Sustainable Development Goals will become more important than ever when the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, he stressed.
“According to the UN's top leader, Vietnam has been making great contributions to supporting sustainable peace in its capacity as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC),” the article said, quoting Guterres saying that in 2020, Vietnam is the ASEAN Chair and a UNSC non-permanent member, reflecting its strong presence on the international arena.
On behalf of the U.S. Government, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on September 1 sent congratulations to the Vietnamese people. “We commend Vietnam for its successful Chairmanship of ASEAN in this challenging year, and we appreciate your close coordination in the fight against COVID-19,” the United States top diplomat stated, noting that the two countries are working together to build a more peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
Professor Carlyle Thayer, the University of New South Wales, Australian Defense Force Academy, shared the same view. “Vietnam's international prestige today is at an all-time high. The evidence for this is Vietnam's unanimous selection by the Asia bloc in the UN as its candidate for a non-permanent seat on the UNSC and Vietnam's receipt of 192 votes out of 193 in the election held by the General Assembly,” he said. “In addition, Vietnam is serving as ASEAN Chair for the third time and its term overlaps with the first year of its two-year tenure on the UNSC.”
The article pointed out 6 major diplomatic milestones and 3 defense hallmarks of Vietnam, including Vietnam’s membership of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in November 1998; membership of the World Trade Organization in November 2006; being elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the first time for the 2008-2009 period; Hanoi being selected as the venue for the second summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK Chairman Kim Jong-un in February 2019; being elected a non-permanent member of the UNSC for the second time for the 2020-2021 period; and as ASEAN Chair 2020, and Vietnam’s response to COVID-19 demonstrating decisive leadership in re-orientating ASEAN to combat this threat to public health in Southeast Asia.
The three milestones included Vietnam’s decision in 2006 to modernize its navy and air defense-air force; the upgrade of Vietnam's Maritime Police in 2008 to an armed service and renamed Vietnam Coast Guard with responsibility for maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, and sovereignty protection in the East Sea; and its commitment to United Nations' peacekeeping by deploying army medical staff to a Level II Field Hospital in South Sudan in 2018./.