Visit of USI Delegation to
Vietnam – A Report

Lieutenant General Satish Nambiar, PVSM, AVSM, VrC (Retd)
 

Background

The visit was the outcome of concerted efforts made over the last few years to develop a dialogue with Armed Forces personnel and strategic analysts from Vietnam in context of a security relationship with an important South East Asian country that is an immediate neighbour of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and one that is more than well disposed towards India. These efforts culminated in the acceptance of an invitation extended by the United Service Institution of India (USI) for a visit to Delhi by a five member delegation of the Institute for Defence International Relations (IDIR) from 10 to 15 January 2006.

Unfortunately, a few days before that visit was to take place, we received intimation from the Vietnamese expressing their inability to undertake the visit as planned due to (as they put it) "heavy schedule of internal programme". However, in the same communication, the Director IDIR extended an invitation for a USI delegation to visit IDIR at mutually convenient dates. The invitation was accepted and a USI delegation visited IDIR from 10 to 15 May 2006.

Assistance from the Indian Mission

It is in the fitness of things that we record the contribution made by the erstwhile Defence Attache Colonel Ahuja, and the current one, Colonel Dua, in making the dialogue possible. It is also appropriate that we acknowledge the efforts made by Colonel Dua in making the visit a most productive and useful one. The USI is indeed grateful to him for sparing the time and effort to be with us for most of the time.

The USI is also grateful to the Indian Ambassador in Hanoi, Shri N Ravi and the Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Shri Mowana, for their gracious hospitality and consideration. The insights they provided were most interesting and educative.

Composition of the Delegation


The USI delegation comprised the following :

The Vietnamese delegation at the formal discussions comprised the following:

Visit Programme

The programme was short on professional content to the extent that only the 11 May 2006, was devoted to discussion of security issues. That afternoon there was a courtesy call on the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lt Gen Pham Hong Loi. The rest of the programme focused on visits to places of national importance and in conveying to the delegation an idea of what the country went through in achieving independence from the French and then in dealing with the operations conducted by the USA, and how the country is now coping. Given the fact that the IDIR is new to the whole process of institutional dialogue and that we were keen to set the process in motion, no attempt was made to impose any changes to the programme drawn up by the IDIR. Even so, since the Deputy of the Institute and a couple of other officers accompanied us throughout the visit, it was possible to engage them in discussions on aspects of professional relevance from time to time. Many of the observations in succeeding paragraphs are the outcome of such informal inter-action. In the event, the visit was professionally satisfying, fruitful and educative.

An Introduction to IDIR

The formal part of the visit commenced with a briefing by Senior Colonel Nguyen Dat Phong, the Director of the Institute. On conclusion of that briefing, the Director USI gave a short brief on the USI. In the briefing on the USI special emphasis was placed on the training for UN peacekeeping operations conducted at the USI Centre for UN Peacekeeping as also the international stature it has achieved in keeping with India's acclaimed reputation in this field.

The IDIR is recent in origin in that it was set up only in 2003 to complement the activities of the 'Military Strategy Institute' whose head had visited the USI on 15 October 1997. Post 2003, the work related to 'internal aspects' of the Vietnamese Armed Forces in terms of evolving strategy, doctrine, higher defence organisation, and so on, is apparently being carried out by the Military Strategy Institute, while those related to 'strategic studies' and aspects related to 'defence and military diplomacy' are being carried out by IDIR.

The re-naming of the Institute (the original name being Defence Institute of International Relations), some time in 2004 was possibly due to some 'defining of turfs' between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

Despite being relatively new in origin the IDIR has made a beginning with dialogues with South Korea and Japan, and now India. Some of their researchers have participated in events attended by representatives from Australia, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and so on. Officers from this Institute now, apparently provide inputs to their Ministry of Defence (MOD) for security dialogues. They also attend Asean Regional Forum (ARF), Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific (CSCAP) and other security related meetings and seminars. Two officers who attended courses at the USI Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in 2004-2005 are on the rolls of the Institute (One of them attended the discussions on 11 May 2006).

Officers at the IDIR are all serving Vietnamese Armed Forces officers. Most of the senior officers (Senior Colonels and Colonels) are former defence attaches or deputy defence attaches. Many have side-stepped from the General Staff Department-II. Whereas the Institute is apparently intended to be an autonomous "think-tank", it is in reality at present an institutionalised body providing researched inputs to the MOD for developing defence and security relations with other countries. It is one of the very few defence organisations that have been permitted to inter-act with foreign institutions and foreigners, independent of the 'External Relations Department'. The erstwhile Director of the Institute was a graduate of the National Defence College in Delhi and was a Defence Attache in Delhi.

Regional Security Perspectives

Brief presentations on regional security perspectives were made by Senior Colonel Le Van Mai and Lt Gen Vinay Shankar on behalf of IDIR and USI respectively.

In the IDIR presentation and in the discussions that ensued, the following major points emerged:
 

Implications of the Rise of China

Brief presentations were made by Senior Colonel Le Van Lich and Lt Gen Chandra Shekhar on behalf of IDIR and USI respectively.

In the IDIR presentation and the discussions that ensued, the following major points emerged :-

General Observations on Strategic Aspects Based on Informal Inter-Action

An observation was made that the Taiwan and Korean issues are inter-linked; one cannot be solved without addressing the other.

Constant effort was required to balance the US pressures vis-a-vis interests with the Chinese. China's perception that the USA is trying to contain it is an obsession that has to be factored into all strategic calculations. Both are competing in Central and SE Asia. But China has the advantage of geographical proximity. It is, therefore, stepping up trade and investment in all SE Asian countries.

Japan's growing interest in a security role in the region was a matter of some significance. Japan is apparently investing considerably in various projects connected with infrastructure and general improvement of living conditions.

While indicating significant and growing Australian interest and investment in Vietnam, it was discreetly suggested that India rather than Australia should in fact be doing so.

South Korea has apparently evinced interest in upgrading equipment left behind by the US forces.

Relations with China are being managed rather well by Vietnam. The border demarcation has been settled on the 'watershed' principle and both sides claim the other has benefited. The Vietnamese do not want to unsettle relations with China and to that end, possibly made greater concessions.

Observations on Bilateral Issues

Given the excellent relations that exist between Vietnam and India due to India's unqualified support during Vietnam's struggle for independence, one would have imagined that there would have been much greater inter-action between Hanoi and New Delhi. However, indications during the visit suggest that Vietnam does not figure adequately on the radar screen in the relevant ministries of the Government of India; like External Affairs, Defence, Commerce, Industry, Cultural Affairs, Education, Science and Technology, etc. A sad commentary on our capacity to exploit the goodwill and interest that prevails in a country that is of so much importance strategically.

Private investment by Indian corporate house appears to be marginal. Some incentives by the Government of India may be called for to encourage the process.

Conversations with our Vietnamese interlocutors indicated that there would be considerable scope for exploiting Indian expertise in English language training and information technology. The possibilities of establishing a tri-Service English training school could be explored; we may need to show some flexibility in meeting their requirements.

There was considerable interest in exploiting the Indian experience in peacekeeping including increased inter-action with the USI Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping. It appears that the Vietnamese authorities are still rather tentative and somewhat uncertain in their approach to the whole aspect of participation in international peace operations. Should they, however, decide in favour of such participation, they may well seek assistance not only for such training but also in setting up training facilities in the country. It would be appropriate for us to not only be prepared to respond to any such request made, but to positively encourage moves towards this end during inter-action at various levels. For its part the USI delegation offered full cooperation to the extent possible.

The IDIR delegation as also the Deputy Chief of the General Staff evinced keen interest in continuation of the dialogue between the two institutions on aspects of mutual interest on a regular basis. There was also mutual agreement on periodic exchange of research scholars on a reciprocal basis.

The visit was without doubt an unqualified success. While thanking our Vietnamese hosts for the utility of the dialogue and for their kindness and hospitality, the USI delegation extended an invitation to the IDIR to send a delegation to the USI for a continuation of the dialogue either in end 2006 or early 2007 at the mutual convenience of the two institutions.