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hereis an urgent need for Asian countries to build and reinforce strategictrust for the sake of peace, prosperity and cooperation in the region,says a top Vietnamese leader.

'Workingtogether to build and reinforce strategic trust for peace, cooperationand prosperity in the region is in the best interest for usall. For Vietnam, strategictrust is perceived, above all, as
honestyand sincerity,' said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in hisopening keynote address at the 12th Asia Security Summit: The Shangri-LaDialogue, in Singapore on Friday night.

Thethree-day Shangri-La Dialogue, an international multilateral forumfor defense diplomacy, is being organized by the London-based theInternational Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

China's growing economic weight and military might hasraised concerns across Southeast Asia and theAsia-Pacific region, in general. China'sunilateral claim to most of the South China Sea, a strategic region filled with hydrocarbonand fishery resources, has only added more fuel to the fire, raisingregional tensions. Vietnam,the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims over certainparts of the South China Sea.

PrimeMinister Dung called on Chinaand the USto work with ASEAN countriesto create a peaceful regional architecture in which 'trust' is thekey element.

'Trustis the beginning of all friendships and cooperation, it prevents calculationsthat could risk conflicts,' Dung said.

Boththe US and China 'according to Dung, are global powers and they haveto contribute to regional and global peace.