Assistant Secretary of Defense Dr. Ely Ratner co-chaired the annual U.S.-Vietnam Defense Policy Dialogue (DPD) with Vietnam Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien today in Washington, D.C. The DPD is the highest-level forum for advancing bilateral defense cooperation between the United States and Vietnam, and this year's meeting took place against the backdrop of the tenth-anniversary year for the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, as well as the beginning of the recently elevated U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Vietnam partnership amid evolving regional dynamics in the Indo-Pacific and exchanged views on regional issues of mutual interest. Assistant Secretary Ratner expressed the United States' commitment to a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam, and highlighted continued U.S. support for ASEAN centrality. Both leaders affirmed their support for the rules-based international order and agreed to work together, along with like-minded partners, to peacefully address and resolve disputes in the region.
Assistant Secretary Ratner and Deputy Defense Minister Chien underscored the value of practical cooperation between the United States and Vietnam and discussed ways to advance bilateral defense cooperation while developing Vietnam's capabilities across multiple domains. They also emphasized the importance of shared efforts to recover remains of both U.S. and Vietnamese missing persons, and continued work in other important war legacy spaces.
Assistant Secretary Ratner noted the Department's enduring commitment to dioxin remediation efforts and shared archival documents, collected by Harvard University, to help find missing Vietnamese personnel and received from General Chien two identification cards of missing Americans. Moving forward, the two leaders agreed to enhanced cooperation on defense industry and trade, maritime security, information sharing, cyber security, humanitarian missions, and other areas of shared interest.
