Vietnam’s President and Communist Party leader, To Lam, on Friday (29 May) struck a sombre tone at a summit when he warned of three foundational crises converging to cause global instabilities – those of international order, development models and strategic trust.
He was delivering the keynote address at the Shangri-La dialogue forum in Singapore, Asia’s premier defence forum, in his first speech on Vietnam’s foreign policy to an international audience since being elected president in April. The forum is organised by Lindon, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and will run from 29-31 May 2026.
Speaking to defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts at the 23rd edition of the dialogue, Lam said the three crises – a changing world order where might was right, the erosion of globalisation and the loss of trust among countries – reinforced each other and converged most clearly in the Asia-Pacific region.
“This is the world’s most dynamic centre of growth, but also a theatre of intense strategic competition, a region defined by vital maritime routes, yet fraught with risk at sea; a region that benefited profoundly from globalisation, yet now faces mounting pressure from supply chain fragmentation, climate change, technological transition and emerging geoeconomic competition,” said Lam, the president and general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party.
On the crisis of strategic trust, Lam called this “a silent yet dangerous crisis” that caused states to interpret actions through mistrust and anxiety, a situation made more complex by rapid developments in emerging technologies.
“Big data, artificial intelligence, cyberspace, quantum technologies, autonomous systems, and digital infrastructure are expanding development capabilities, yet they also have the potential to amplify suspicion, enable information manipulation, compress decision-making timelines, and increase the risk of miscalculation,” Lam said.
He noted that strategic stability would become more fragile when technological advances outpaced the evolution of rules and human oversight.
To overcome this crisis, Lam called for a strategic framework for trust building that would include rapid communication channels in times of incident, dialogue to reduce misperception, clear codes of conduct to prevent collision and robust technological norms to ensure humans remained ultimately responsible for decisions carrying grave security consequences.
“Strategic trust does not require elimination of differences or denying competition, its essence lies in managing differences within a rules-based framework, ensuring that competition remains bounded, responsible and predictable. A durable regional order cannot be built upon perpetual fear and mutual distrust,” Lam said.
Precisely because it is where these challenges converge, the Asia-Pacific must also become where solutions emerge.
Asked if he agreed that AI also created new opportunities and gave countries the chance to deliver needed combat power for deterrence at a new speed, Lam said Vietnam believed the need for human decision remained important, especially in defence and security.
He called for transparency, information sharing, and building trust and consensus based on principles and technical standards when using these advanced technologies in military activities.
Lam was also asked by a senior colonel from China if he viewed Beijing and Hanoi’s “3+3” strategic dialogue on diplomacy, defence and public security as a new way of promoting regional security cooperation.
The concept refers to adding the public security element to the typical “2+2” bilateral mechanism involving foreign and defence ministers.
Lam said there were many mechanisms to bolster cooperation, and noted the implementation of this mechanism reflected Vietnam’s position of self-reliance and resilience.
“In its relations with China, Vietnam views the ‘3+3’ strategic dialogue as an important mechanism among core agencies in maintaining regional peace and security,” he said.
“These agencies all bring forth very practical values in bolstering Vietnam’s relations with China and ensuring and contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region.”
source: commonspace.eu with South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and agencies
photo: The leader of Vietnam, To Lam, arrivinf to speak at the Shangri La Forum in Singapore
