Vietnamese official points out 4 external terrorist threats at UN meeting

In his speech, the Vietnamese high-ranking official pointed out four risks of external terrorism harming national security of Vietnam, and classified the attack by some local people on the headquarters of the communal government and people in Dak Lak province (Vietnam) on June 11, 2023 as an organized terrorist act.

Public Security (CAND) Newspaper would like to introduce the full text of Major General Pham Ngoc Viet's speech at the UN conference to readers at home and overseas:

Mr. Chairman, Vietnam strongly condemns and opposes acts of terrorism in all forms, and supports counter-terrorism measures taken by countries and international organizations in accordance with the United Nations Charter and international law.

By now, Vietnam has not yet experienced any terror act carried out by foreign individual terrorists or international terrorist organizations, nor detected the presence of international terrorism in the country.

However, we realize that international terrorism may threaten Vietnam's national security as the follows:

Firstly, Vietnam has a lot of potential targets for international terrorists, such as foreign diplomatic headquarters.

Second, Vietnam shares the risk of IS militants moving to Southeast Asia from the Middle East.

Third, terrorist and violent extremist groups thoroughly take advantage of technology, the internet and social networks to spread extremism around the world. Meanwhile, Vietnam is among the countries with a large number of internet users, so its population is more vulnerable.

Fourthly, Vietnamese exile reactionary organizations and extremist elements residing in foreign countries establish bases, expand their networks in some countries, make use of ethnic and religious issues to induce gullible people in the country to join their training sessions, and also send key figures to Vietnam to lead terrorist acts in the country.

These Vietnamese overseas terrorist organizations set up  Southeast Asian countries to set up disguised offices, recruit and train members. They also use the internet and social networks to propagate, instigate and guide bad elements in the country to carry out terrorist attacks on law enforcement forces and innocent people.

Specifically, on June 11, 2023, two groups of people armed with guns and homemade weapons carried terror attacks on the communal government headquarters and local people. They killed 9 people, injured 2 others and took hostage of 3 people. The local functional forces have arrested 65 suspects, including members of an organization based in the US, who had illegally entered Vietnam and directed the terror attacks.

The  attacks in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, were an organized terrorist operation, in which attackers armed with weapons and acted very violent, reckless, barbaric inhuman. Vietnam strongly condemns individuals and organizations backing and directing the attacks as well as the attackers. The country is calling on relevant countries and international organizations to support and cooperate closely with Vietnam in investigating the case.

The fight against terrorism requires the joint efforts of the international community. Only through solidarity, cooperation and shared responsibility can we effectively address international terrorist threats, and promote peace and security of each country and the world.

Thank you very much!