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Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny arriving at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. The PM is in Vietnam for a two-day official visit. Picture: Adam Taylor
“We share a vision for an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific neighbourhood; an Indo-Pacific where we respect each other’s sovereignty and independence,” the Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny are welcomed as they arrive at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi. Picture: AAP
“Because if we allow the sovereignty or independence of any of our neighbours to suffer coercion, then we are all diminished.
“And we share a deep interest in the stability and prosperity of our region. It’s more important than ever before that we remain open and connected and maintain a regional focus with a global perspective. We know that in Southeast Asia we need security and peace to maintain our prosperity.”
MORE: Morrison trip timing pertinent | Sheridan - Asia ties good for business
Vietnam is looking for Australia’s support to ensure a free flow of trade through the South China Sea, including by maintaining freedom of navigation exercises.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings said a recommitment by Australia and other nations to free and open seas would help to counter Chinese efforts to monopolise international waters.
“What’s needed in the South China Sea is lots of states that aren’t China exercising freedom of navigation, working together, doing training, the whole gamut of things defence forces do at sea and under and over the sea,” Mr Jennings said.
Australia’s efforts to align more closely with Vietnam follow a strongly worded statement this month by Australia, the US and Japan pledging to uphold global rules and ensure countries were “resilient to coercion”.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her US and Japanese counterparts expressed concerns about “credible reports of disruptive activities in relation to longstanding oil and gas projects” and other “negative developments in the South China Sea”, including the militarisation of disputed features by China.
Ben Bland, director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia project, said Vietnam was seeking out partners such as Australia who had a shared interest in balancing China’s “more assertive and aggressive behaviour”.
“China represents a much more existential threat to Vietnam,” Mr Bland said.
“We’re seeing another one of those periods where there are bouts of heightened tensions. We have seen this in the past but it is concerning and there’s always a risk of escalation and it is getting out of hand. In both countries the communist parties are dealing with a very nationalistic public. The government doesn’t want to be seen to be backing down in the face of what they would view to be coercion from the other side.”
With Vietnam’s fast-growing economy, rising middle class, a population of about 97 million — 55 million of whom are of working age — and a suite of free-trade agreements under its belt, Mr Morrison said his government saw the country’s potential, and the challenge now was to “turn potential into reality”.
“My message to you today is this: Vietnam matters to Australia. And I know that our partnership matters to Vietnam,” said Mr Morrison, whose wife Jenny is accompanying him on the trip.
“I am here because of how far the relationship has come, and because I see the potential … We are two nations from different systems, with different languages, and very different cultures: but ours has become a comfortable partnership.”
The relationship with the former Vietnam War foe has been transformed in recent years and was elevated to a “strategic partnership” level in late 2017. It is understood Mr Morrison will not officially mark the two countries’ wartime past during the visit, focusing instead on the bilateral relationship. He will announce $5 million towards the establishment of the Australia-Vietnam Centre, to be located at the Ho Chi Minh Academy of Politics and “provide a focal point for leadership training and collaborative research in a range of areas, including economic and trade policy”.
Two-way trade between Australia and Vietnam reached $14.5 billion last year. Only Australia’s trade with India is growing at a faster rate. “This is a great time to be doing business in Vietnam,” Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison will meet Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for a bilateral meeting tomorrow. An official welcome ceremony at the presidential palace, visits to Ho Chi Minh’s stilt house and Vietnam’s 2020 Grand Prix site, a tour of a military medical university with Australian-trained Vietnamese UN peacekeepers and a state banquet are also on the agenda.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/na...w/news-story/45773aa88493c6f1d1d71a1b5ea69c30
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