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This paper examines Vietnam?s security policy with a focus on its omnidirectional military diplomacy. The concept of omnidirectional military diplomacy combines the ideas of omnidirectional diplomacy?the basic foreign policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese government?and the military diplomacy of the Ministry of National Defense and the Vietnam People?s Army. Under Vietnam?s omnidirectional military diplomacy, in order to build multilayered and stable relationships with all countries, not only the diplomatic institutions but also relevant military organizations participate in broadly-defined diplomatic activities through dialogue and cooperation, thereby playing a part in Vietnam?s omnidirectional diplomacy. In the area of national defense policy, Vietnam pursues stability not only of bilateral relations but also of the strategic environment of the region as a whole by engaging in confidence building among relevant military organizations for the security of Vietnam, a relatively small country. Vietnam?s omnidirectional military diplomacy seeks to address the traditional security issue of sovereignty over the South China Sea by directly applying the general goal of military diplomacy, namely: improving bilateral and multilateral relations as well as the regional strategic environment through cooperative confidence-building efforts, primarily in nontraditional areas. It attempts to keep China?s excessive influence from reaching Vietnam by deepening the country?s relationships with the United States and other major powers in the region. Vietnam?s omnidirectional military diplomacy principally covers the United States, Russia, India and Japan, and also places importance on the utilization of ASEAN?s multilateral frameworks for security cooperation. |
