Promoting “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within our Military is among the most malicious artifices in the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy, especially in the current situation. Thus, all organisations, forces, cadres, party members, and the masses within the Military must proactively prevent and effectively fight against this conspiracy.

Fully understanding the important role of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) in building and defending the Homeland, the hostile forces have been stepping up their sabotage plan with a view to making our VPA fall into “self-evolution” and “self-transformation,” lose its combat goal, ideal and working class nature, and follow bourgeois politics. In fact, they aim to eradicate and transform our VPA’s political “background.” They take advantage of modern mass media and social networks, while adopting various forms and methods to fight against our VPA politically, ideologically, and organisationally. They focus on political issues, working class nature, ideology, the Party’s leadership, the State’s management, historical, traditional, and moral issues, the VPA’s relations with the Party, Homeland, country, State, and people as well as its foreign and internal relations. In each period, they use different artifices with specific manifestations as follows.

1. Distorting and denying the VPA’s ideological foundation, nature, combat goal and ideal, function, and task. This artifice is at the forefront of the hostile forces’ sabotage plan in order to encourage “self-evolution” and “self-transformation.” They distort and refute Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, and our VPA’s revolutionary nature and glorious tradition, adding that “the VPA is no longer a revolutionary army.” They claim that “an army doesn’t need to rely on any ideology” or “to be placed under the leadership of any political party.” They say that “the VPA shall serve the Homeland, the country, and the people only,” and that “the VPA is merely tasked with defending the country instead of economic development.” They hope that when being distorted, misrepresented, and strongly attacked, those fundamental issues will lead to “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” among the VPA’s cadres and soldiers and even make our VPA fall into “self-evolution” and “self-transformation.”

2. Taking advantage of the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle among a section of cadres and party members to promote “self-evolution” and “self-transformation.” This is a piece of “fertile land” for the hostile forces to incite “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the VPA. The 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum has clearly pointed out the signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. It is the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle that would lead to “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and political degeneracy. The gap between degradation and “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” is very narrow, which is extremely dangerous and could result in our cadres and party members abetting the hostile forces to betray the Party and nation’s revolutionary ideal and cause. The hostile forces make best use of the signs of degradation, weaknesses and violations of the Military’s discipline and the State’s law among a number of the VPA’s cadres and soldiers, especially senior-level officers to serve their evil purpose. They even commend and support several bad elements for going against our Party, State, VPA’s viewpoints and policies so as to encourage “self-evolution” and “self-transformation.”

3. Distorting the VPA’s relations, particularly its relations with the Party, State, and people. The hostile forces devote efforts to misinterpreting the Party’s leadership over the VPA and its relations with the Party, nation, and people in order to remove the Party’s leadership over the VPA, deliberately saying that the VPA’s loyalty to the Party is contrary to its loyalty to the country and the people. They fabricate the truth, insulting and defaming the VPA’s leaders, distorting relations within the VPA, adding that the relationship between superiors and inferiors is not the same as it was before, due to the large living standard gap. They take advantage of weaknesses and negative practices among a small number of cadres and soldiers to undermine the close-knit bond between the VPA and the people, claiming that “the VPA no longer maintains a close relationship with the people,” and that “it only protects the Party and the State instead of the people.” By doing so, the hostile forces deliberately change the nature of the VPA’s relations in a bid to promote “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within our Military.

Things mentioned above represent the hostile forces’ fundamental plots and artifices in their strategy for “peaceful evolution,” “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation” from within. Their strategy is aimed at sabotaging our VPA comprehensively, especially in terms of politics, to weaken our Military and transform its nature. Certainly, it is hard for us to identify, prevent and fight against those plots and artifices by the hostile forces. More specifically, we find difficult to distinguish which one is “peaceful evolution,” “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and our VPA’s cadres and soldiers’ weaknesses. Those difficulties will easily lead to confusion about the content and method of fighting against and effectively foiling the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the VPA.

Currently, the work of preventing and combating “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the VPA must be closely combined with fighting to thwart the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy, preventing and dealing with the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, building a comprehensively strong VPA, and especially making the VPA politically strong as the basis for improving its synergy and combat power. It is also the fundamental methodology, direction, and main requirements for preventing and fighting against the hostile forces’ plots and artifices of enhancing “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within our VPA. To that end, offices and units across the VPA should focus on implementing several measures as follows.

First, conducting the work of propagation and education to render all cadres and soldiers acutely aware of the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and their plots to step up “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the VPA. It is more important to make our cadres and soldiers clearly understand the negative impacts of those plots and artifices by the hostile forces as well as the requirements and methods of prevention and struggle. Due regard should be paid to raising the quality of educating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and the VPA’s nature, tradition, function, and task. Doing so will help improve cadres and soldiers’ political zeal and make them always steadfast in the Party’s ideological foundation and the goal of national independence and socialism, absolutely loyal to the Party, Homeland, and people, and strong against all plots and artifices of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation,” the impacts made by the situation, wrong, hostile viewpoints, distortions, and evil information, particularly on social networks.

Second, preventing and dealing with the signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle among a section of the VPA’s cadres and soldiers. Offices and units within the VPA should promote their cadres, party members, and ordinary staff members’ role and responsibility in “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and control. Due attention should be paid to enhancing the work of inspection, supervision, and Party’s discipline, well exercising self-criticism and criticism, and heightening the role model-setting responsibility of cadres at all levels, particularly commanders and commissars. It is necessary to resolutely prevent and settle the signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as bureaucracy, corruption, and negative practices within units. At the same time, it is essential to well conduct the work of internal political protection, strictly maintain discipline, and build a pure, healthy cultural environment to improve the “immunity” of each soldier, office, and unit. Each cadre and soldier must know how to protect themselves and improve their revolutionary stance and political zeal against the hostile forces’ plots and artifices.

Third, building a politically, ideologically, organisationally, and morally pure, strong Military Party Organisation and maintaining the Party’s ideological foundation within the VPA. A focus should be placed on raising the effectiveness of the Party building and rectification within the Military Party Organisation. The Military Party Organisation must play a vanguard, exemplary role in executing the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 and the Party’s regulations on the Party building and rectification. Party members, cadres, and officers within the VPA must heighten their role model-setting responsibility for performing their task, managing their relationships, and improving their morality and lifestyle. The effectiveness of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and combat depends on party organisations’ purity and solidity as well as on cadres, party members, and officers’ exemplification. We could not make progress in “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and control unless cadres, party members, officers, particularly key leaders and senior-level officers set good examples in self-improvement.

To conclude, it is the responsibility of all organisations, forces, offices and units to proactively detect and resolutely fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints and deal with the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within in order to build a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern VPA.

Associate Prof. Nguyen Manh Huong, PhD