PANO – Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thang, on December 16th, received the newly promoted Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, on his working visit to Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Defence Minister congratulated the Thai Commander-in-Chief on his promotion and expressed his belief that the newly appointed Commander of the Royal Thai Army would make many contributions to the development of the bilateral friendly relations between the two nations and cooperative ties between the two defence organisations.
The host also applauded the results of talks between the Thai General and Vietnamese Deputy-Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant-General Nguyen Trung Thu and wished that the two militaries would enhance personnel visits and information exchanges in the future.
He ensured that Vietnam will never allow any organisations or individuals to make Vietnam as their safe haven to bring harm to Thailand’s national security and he requested the Royal Thai Army to check localities across the country to stop Vietnamese exiles from hiding in the territory of Thailand to sabotage Vietnam’s national security.
The guest affirmed that he in his new post and capacity would boost cooperation between the 2 defence forces. He also appreciated Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship, especially the Vietnamese successful organisation of a series of regional defence conferences, including ADMM+.
He pledged to totally support the initiatives proposed by Vietnam at recent regional conferences, especially regional defence cooperation in humanitarian aid and natural disaster relief and rescue.
The Thai General shared the host’s view, assuring that the Royal Thai Army will stop any organisations and individuals that shelter in Thailand but attempt to undermine Vietnam’s national security.
Translated by Thu Nguyen