Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah Royal Remarks at the 3rd Annual Dialogue on War Legacies and Peace in Vietnam, Laos,[...]

Good morning, everyone. I want to express my gratitude to Ambassador Moose and USIP for your enduring work to advance United States and Vietnam reconciliation and for convening this valuable dialogue.

Your efforts have been critical as we continue to overcome the legacy of war and strengthen trust and cooperation between our two nations.

It's a privilege for me to share some thoughts on reconciliation, our expanding defense cooperation, and shared security interests in Southeast Asia.

In September 2023, President Biden traveled to Hanoi to usher in what he declared to be a new era of relations between Vietnam and the United States.

Our entry into a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership last year was made possible because of the achievements we have had together in reconciliation and through addressing war legacy issues over the past 50 years.

On September 9th of this year, Vietnam's Minister of National Defense, General Phan Van Giang, met with Secretary Austin at the Pentagon, on the first anniversary of our enhanced partnership.

At their meeting, General Giang and Secretary Austin signed a new Joint Vision Statement, which charts how we'll deepen our defense cooperation in the years ahead.

A key part of our defense cooperation is continuing to address, and where possible overcome, the consequences of war. We remain committed to the fullest possible accounting of U.S. Service members lost during the Vietnam War, remediating dioxin at Bien Hoa Airbase, and removing unexploded ordnance.

To date, Vietnam has helped identify more than 700 Americans killed in the War and assisted in repatriating them to their families for burial with full military honors.

Congress reciprocated in 2018 by initiating the Vietnam Wartime Accountability Initiative to help Vietnam search for their missing. This initiative includes organizing millions of war records into a state-of-the-art database. Through this effort, the U.S. has provided valuable information on over 1,300 individual war dead and identified potential burial sites for more than 2,000 fallen Vietnamese soldiers. Access to this information supports healing to Vietnamese families promotes people-to-people exchanges and fosters goodwill between our nations.

Another pillar of our reconciliation efforts is Agent Orange clean up. We are committed to remediating dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Airbase. In March, Secretary Austin directed DoD to budget an additional $65 million to finish this vital project - on top of DoD's previous commitment of $150 million. DoD is grateful for our partnership with the United States Agency for International Development on this important work.

Additionally, we must sustain efforts to remove unexploded ordnance. We have helped remove more than 700,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance while educating hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese citizens on risks associated with undetonated mines.

These activities generate confidence and trust between our nations and put into action the words of Vietnam's late Secretary General, Nguyen Phu Trong, to "set aside the past, overcome differences, build on similarities, [and] look to the future."

It is in that context that we are now seeing a new opportunity with Vietnam. In our engagements, we talk together about a shared future. Our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has already laid the groundwork for us to solve security and economic problems through robust partnership.

Today we are pursuing new initiatives, including efforts to improve defense industrial base resilience and help Vietnam strengthen its maritime awareness and defense capabilities.

Our militaries are deepening our friendship and cooperation through a range of activities. Vietnam welcomed the USS Blue Ridge and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter for a joint port visit in July.

In August, Vietnam hosted multilateral Pacific Partnership and Pacific Angel humanitarian-response missions. Together we have built more than one hundred flood-resilient schools, clinics, and bridges, and over a dozen Disaster Management Coordination Centers across Vietnam.

DoD will also take part in Vietnam's International Defense Expo this December. We're working together more closely than ever.

And we are looking to the future. President Biden's Indo-Pacific Strategy directs the U.S. government to prioritize strengthening our alliances and partnerships across the region, in order to support a free and open Indo-Pacific.

In taking that strategy forward, we are experiencing a historical shift in the character of strategic relationships in the Indo-Pacific region. In June at the annual Shangri-la Dialogue, Secretary Austin talked about a new convergence among Indo-Pacific states that is producing a stronger, more resilient, and more capable network of partnerships. That is is defining a new era of security in the Indo-Pacific.

This network is truly unique to the Indo-Pacific, a set of overlapping and complimentary institutions propelled by a shared vision and a shared sense of mutual obligation.

It works because we have found common cause grounded in common principles. Countries across the Indo-Pacific, including the United States, are converging around these enduring beliefs: respect for sovereignty and international law. The free flow of commerce and ideas. Freedom of navigation in the seas and skies. Equal dignity for every person. And the peaceful resolution of disputes through dialogue-and not coercion or conflict.

Aggression by the PRC in the South China Sea goes against the common cause we share with so many in the region. The United States is deeply concerned by the reports of dangerous actions that PRC vessels took against Vietnamese fishing vessels late last month. The forceful boarding of a Vietnamese fishing vessel and physical assault of Vietnamese fishermen is the latest act by the PRC to undermine international laws and rights afforded to all South China Sea claimant states.

I commend Vietnam and other Southeast Asian partner countries' efforts to peacefully resolve disputes and to work cooperatively together to address shared challenges in and around the South China Sea. The United States supports these diplomatic and cooperative endeavors and, based on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, wants to support Vietnam and other partners in overcoming these challenges together.

The United States and Vietnam have made extraordinary progress over the last several decades toward overcoming the legacies of war. This is the foundation for our defense relationship.

As President Biden said nothing is beyond our capacity when we work together. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today.

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