The U.S.-Vietnam Political, Security and Defense Dialogue is an annual high‑level meeting where U.S. and Vietnamese foreign affairs, defense, and security officials review and plan cooperation on political, security, and defense issues. It was set up as a regular mechanism to deepen the bilateral relationship, build trust and mutual understanding, and coordinate on regional and global security challenges as the two countries’ partnership has expanded (now a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership).
On the U.S. side, the dialogue is typically led by senior State Department officials responsible for political‑military or arms‑control and security issues (for example, the Senior Bureau Official for Political‑Military Affairs Fleet White in 2025, and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins in 2024), joined by representatives from regional and security bureaus and sometimes the Defense Department. On the Vietnamese side, it is usually led by senior Foreign Ministry officials such as the Deputy Minister or Vice Foreign Minister (e.g., Ha Kim Ngoc in 2024 and Dang Hoang Giang in 2025), with participation from defense and other relevant agencies.
These dialogues usually cover: (1) bilateral defense and security cooperation, including training, military medicine, peacekeeping, counter‑terrorism, cybersecurity, and combating high‑tech crime; (2) addressing war legacies such as dioxin cleanup, unexploded ordnance removal, support for Agent Orange victims, and accounting for missing personnel; (3) broader political and economic ties under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; and (4) regional and international issues like the Indo‑Pacific security environment, support for ASEAN, Mekong cooperation, and maritime security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea/East Sea. Outcomes are generally agreement to keep deepening cooperation in these areas and to implement prior joint statements and agreements.
On the State Department website, an "Exception: forbidden" or similar message usually corresponds to an HTTP 403 "Forbidden" error. That means the server received and understood your request for the page but is refusing to allow access—often due to permission settings, security rules, or temporary technical problems on the site—rather than the page simply not existing on the internet.
If the main State Department page is inaccessible, you can usually find the same media note or summary: (1) on the U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam website, which in this case hosts the full text of the media note on the Fourteenth U.S.-Vietnam Political, Security and Defense Dialogue; (2) on mirrored or archive sites that republish U.S. government releases (e.g., GlobalSecurity.org); and (3) in Vietnamese state or official media reports that summarize the dialogue’s content. These alternative locations often carry either the identical text or detailed summaries of the release.