SINGAPORE: Any solutions to the multiple crises that threaten global stability should emerge from the Asia-Pacific, as it is the region where they most clearly converge, Vietnamese President To Lam said at the region’s premier security summit.
Delivering a keynote address at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) on Friday (May 29), Lam repeatedly stressed the need to uphold a rules-based order, practise self-restraint and build trust – sending a signal of how Vietnam intends to navigate the pressures of great-power rivalry in the region.
The Asia-Pacific has become an arena for the strategic rivalry between the United States and China, where their competition for influence in the economic, military and institutional domains leaves South-east Asian countries like Vietnam potentially caught in between.
Lam said the current global instability is a result of the convergence of three foundational crises, namely the crisis of international order, the crisis of development models and that of strategic trust.
“These three crises are converging most visibly in the Asia-Pacific,” Mr Lam said.
He described the region as the world’s most dynamic centre of growth that has also become a “theatre of intense strategic competition”.
“It is a region that benefited profoundly from globalisation, yet now faces mounting pressure from supply chain fragmentation, climate change, technological transition and emerging geoeconomic competition precisely because it is where these challenges converge,” he pointed out.
“The Asia-Pacific must also become where solutions emerge,” he said.
Vietnam’s renewed diplomacy push
Lam’s appearance at the annual defence and security forum organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) marked several historic firsts.
This was his first address on Vietnam’s foreign policy to an international audience since being elected president in April.
He is also the highest-ranking Vietnamese official ever to speak at the forum, and the first general secretary of a communist party to deliver a keynote at the event – historically dominated by liberal-democratic heads of government and defence ministers.
Lam, 68, ascended to the top of the Communist Party of Vietnam in August 2024. At the party’s National Congress in January 2026, he was re-elected general secretary by a unanimous vote, cementing his dominant status.
Since taking office, Lam has pursued what analysts have described as a “diplomacy offensive”. He visited 16 countries in his first year alone – more than any of his predecessors.
He is currently on a four-day state visit to Singapore, and earlier on May 29 called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Lam dedicated a significant portion of his speech to discussing the crisis of international order, in which he stressed that global order should not come through coercion, unilateral imposition or threat of force.
“The crisis of the international order begins when rules are still invoked yet their binding force erodes; when commitments are repeatedly affirmed yet undermined in practice; when fundamental principles of international law are interpreted selectively, applied inconsistently, or subordinated to the logic where might makes right and the strong prey upon the weak,” he said.
He also warned that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and quantum computing could “compress decision-making timelines and increase the risk of miscalculation”, leading to strategic distrust.
IISS, in its Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2026 report, released a day before the start of the forum, listed quantum technological advances as among the new challenges that the region faces.
South China Sea and regional stakes
Among his proposals for tackling the crises, Mr Lam said that a rules-based order is particularly vital for seas and oceans as they provide the lifelines of global trade, energy, food and supply chains.
“No country benefits when these routes become theatres of coercion, confrontation or displays of power,” he said.
His remark came as the world is facing an energy crisis from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea remain unresolved among China, Taiwan and several South-east Asian countries, including Vietnam.
Lam said Vietnam’s position on the South China Sea remains clear, consistent and principled, including its support for the peaceful settlement of all disputes and disagreements on the basis of international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
“Vietnam respects the legitimate rights and interests of other states, while remaining resolute and persistent in safeguarding its own independence, sovereignty, and legitimate sovereign and jurisdictional rights in accordance with international law,” he said.
Lam lauded the SLD, saying it should remain a platform where “nations listen carefully to one another” and clarify their intentions rather than restating their positions. He also proposed an open, inclusive regional architecture with Asean at its centre.
During the question-and-answer session, Senior Colonel Zhang Chi, an associate professor from China’s National Defense University, asked Lam whether the “3+3” dialogue between China and Vietnam could be a new approach to promote regional security cooperation.
During Lam’s visit to China in April, the two sides established the mechanism to boost bilateral security cooperation involving three key ministries – defence, foreign affairs and public security.
In response, Lam said that while the dialogue is a valuable mechanism, it is a continuation of Vietnam’s self-reliance and self-resilient defence policy.
“Vietnam will not engage in any military alliance, not align with one country against another, not allow a third country to station troops or bases in Vietnam, and not resort to the threat or use of force,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Lam said that major powers are welcome to engage with the region provided that their efforts are transparent, responsible, respectful of international law, supportive of Asean centrality and conducive to reducing tensions.
“What the region seeks is neither the mere presence nor absence of any major power. What it seeks is responsible commitment,” he said.
“We recognise that competition is an enduring reality of international relations. But competition must remain bounded by law, guided by transparency, and exercised with restraint,” he added.
The SLD will continue until May 31, with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth scheduled to lead the plenary session on “US Strategy for Peace in the Indo-Pacific” on May 30. Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta is delivering a special address on the same day. - The Straits TImes/ANN
