Seventy years ago, under the astute and decisive leadership of the Party, led by President Ho Chi Minh, our military and people completely destroyed the Dien Bien Phu stronghold, thereby decisively contributing to the glorious conclusion of the resistance war against French colonialism. The monumental victory of Dien Bien Phu 1954 is engraved in our nation's history as “a battle of Bach Dang, Chi Lang or Dong Da in the 20th century” and has been engraved in the world history as “a breakthrough in the fortress of the colonial system by imperialism”. The 70th anniversary of the victory of Dien Bien Phu (7 May 1954 - 7 May 2024) is an occasion for our entire Party, people and army to review the history, reminisce and express gratitude for the great sacrifices and contributions, the glory of our heroic martyrs, heroic Vietnamese mothers, cadres, soldiers and all classes of people nationwide; to appreciate the support and assistance of international friends, especially China and the Soviet Union; and at the same time, to continue studying and drawing valuable lessons and experiences that can be applied and promoted in the task of building a comprehensive national defence system, firmly safeguarding the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

VPA troops crossed Muong Thanh Bridge and headed to the centre of Dien Bien Phu on 7 May 1954 (Photo: VNA)

Firstly, grasp the situation accurately, handle the national defence and security tasks correctly, flexibly, promptly and ensure the firm protection of the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland

During the resistance war against French colonialism, based on a close adherence to reality and grasp of the situation, especially regarding the balance of forces and the overall situation on the battlefield, the Party Central Committee, led by President Ho Chi Minh, guided and directed the people's war creatively, flexibility, successively defeating the enemy's stratagems and war tactics, pushing them into a passive position. In September 1953, based on the accurate assessment of the objectives of the Navarre Plan, which aimed to concentrate forces and build a strong strategic mobile force in order to change the situation and achieve military victory, ending the war with honor, the Political Bureau convened a conference on the Winter Spring 1953 - 1954 Operations and decided on the principle: “Employ a main force to open attacks in vulnerable enemy directions to disperse their forces”; the general combat principle is: “Active, proactive, mobile, and flexible”; the strategic command and combat command principles are: "Destroy the enemy's vitality, strengthen our forces; fight securely, fight to win, fight to annihilate...".

In early December 1953, when Navarre selected Dien Bien Phu - a mountainous battlefield, distant from bases and entirely dependent on air supply, as the strategic decisive point against our army, the Political Bureau and the Party Central Committee researched, assessed, and accurately evaluated the enemy and our situation, deciding to initiate the Dien Bien Phu Campaign; simultaneously, launching five coordinated attacks on other battlefields to create favourable conditions for the decisive Dien Bien Phu Campaign. With the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, President Ho Chi Minh issued the directive: “This campaign is of utmost importance, not only militarily but also politically, not only domestically but also internationally. Therefore, the entire army, people, and Party must concentrate to ensure its success”, “only engage when victory is assured. If victory is not assured, do not engage”.

Initially, at Dien Bien Phu, the enemy temporarily defended without fully constructing a solid defensive stronghold, we adopted the combat principle of “strike quickly, resolve swiftly”. By early 1954, after thorough examination, investigation, and careful study of the battlefield situation, General Vo Nguyen Giap, the General Commander and Party Committee Secretary of the Dien Bien Phu Front, observed that the enemy had reinforced their forces and fortified their defensive positions into a formidable stronghold while our preparations, especially ensuring coordination between infantry, artillery, and air defence, were not yet complete. Thorough embracing the strategic directives of the Political Bureau and President Ho Chi Minh, drawing on historical lessons and understanding the laws of war, with intellect, sensitivity, and high responsibility as a commander, General Vo Nguyen Giap deliberated and reported to the Political Bureau, proposing a change in the combat principle from “strike quickly, resolve swiftly” to “strike firmly, advance steadily”. The historical reality shows that this decision was extremely “difficult” but also very decisive, demonstrating the courage, intellect, creativity, and flexibility of General Vo Nguyen Giap, it was an important factor contributing directly to the success of this historic campaign.

Currently, the global and regional situation continues to evolve rapidly, becoming increasingly complex, unpredictable, and marked by intense competition among major countries; many security flashpoints show a tendency to escalate, with the risk of spreading, and the emergence of various forms of warfare, tactics, strategic spaces and new methods of waging war, posing new challenges to the trends of peace, cooperation, and human development. To achieve the thorough objective of Vietnam's national defence, which is to ensure the highest national - people interests based on firmly safeguarding the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of our Fatherland; protecting the Party, the government, the people, the socialist regime, and the achievements of the revolution; the cause of renovation, industrialisation, and modernisation; preserving the nation's cultural identity, international position and prestige; maintaining, strengthening, and enhancing the peaceful environment for national construction and development, we must thoroughly embrace, comprehensively, synchronously and effectively implement the Party and government's guidelines, policies, and strategies concerning national defence, military, and Fatherland protection, with the focal points include the Resolutions of the 13th Party Congress, the Resolution of the 8th Central Committee (13th tenure) on the Strategy for safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation, the Strategy for Vietnam's national defence, the Strategy for Vietnam's Military, the Strategy for national security, the Strategy for national border protection, the Strategy for protecting the Fatherland in cyberspace, the Strategy for national cybersecurity, as well as specialised strategies and systems of policies, laws on national defence and security. All units and agencies throughout the entire military, especially strategic advisory agencies, must closely follow practical situations, proactively research, grasp, evaluate, and accurately forecast various risks, challenges, strategic situations, new forms of warfare, and timely advise the Party and the government to devise, add up, and complete guidelines, strategies, and policies for prevention and effective handling of national defence and security situations, contributing to the firm protection of the Fatherland in all circumstances from early and from afar, preventing the country from being passive or surprised. Actively review, add up, and improve the system of policies and laws on building a comprehensive national defence system under the new situation; prepare plans, forces, and vehicles ready to effectively cope with both traditional and non-traditional security challenges.

Primie Mnister Pham Minh Chinh and Defence Minister Phan Van Giang visited Vietnam International Defence Exhibition in 2022 (Photo: qdnd.vn)

Secondly, enhance building the comprehensive national defence capabilities to meet the demands of safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation

National defence capabilities refer to the ability in terms of manpower, material resources, finances, and spirit both domestically and internationally that can be mobilised to fulfill the national defence tasks and meet the requirements of ensuring the firm protection of the Fatherland. National defence capabilities encompass various elements such as political capabilities; economic, cultural, and social capabilities; military capabilities; as well as scientific and technological capabilities. Among these, political capabilities serve as the fundamental element of national defence capabilities, encapsulating the inherent qualities of individuals including courage, intelligence, creativity, and deeply embedded historical values and cultural traditions of the nation.

During the resistance war against French colonialism, with a comprehensive, whole people, protracted resistance guideline; relying primarily on our own strength, the Party and the government were able to mobilise broad support and participation from all classes of the population in the resistance and national liberation cause, ready to contribute, fight, and sacrifice for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. We built a resistance economy, culture, and education system with a high degree of self-reliance, meeting the majority of the needs of the revolutionary cause; initiated a widespread whole people resistance movement, with the people’s armed forces as the backbone; established alliances with the revolutionary forces in Laos and Cambodia; and received increasing and effective support and assistance from socialist countries, especially China and the Soviet Union.

Since 1950, our military and people have continuously launched large scale campaigns, pushing the enemy deeper into a passive position, stagnant between concentrating and dispersing their forces. Entering the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the internal strength, spirit of unity, creativity, and unwavering will of our people were aroused, gathered, and highly elevated. From the mountains to the plains, from liberated areas to the enemy - occupied territory, under the leadership of the Party and the guidance of all levels of government, a large number of people enthusiastically and actively contributed their human and material resources to the front line, contributed decisively to successfully resolving logistical issues in a long and intense campaign that the enemy could not anticipate. In liberated areas, rear bases, and strongholds, we not only built an economy to meet the basic needs of the people but also developed a national defence industry, manufacturing and repairing weapons and equipment for the armed forces, meeting the increasing and urgent demands of the battlefield. As a result, the comprehensive strength - the invincible strength of the nation was mobilised, contributing decisively to the historic victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, which “shine across five continents, shake the globe”.

Nowadays, to enhance the robust development of national defence capabilities and establish a solid foundation for the comprehensive, whole people, independent, self-reliant, and modern national defence, we must build and leverage the comprehensive strength of the country across all military, political, ideological, economic, cultural, social, security, diplomatic, science and technology domains, combining the national strength with power of the era; in particular, key focuses include:

Building and leveraging political capabilities: In order to build political strength, we must focus on constructing a truly clean and robust Party and government; nurturing and promoting the human factor in all aspects of social life; caring for the material and spiritual well-being of the people; building a solid “people's hearts” posture, fostering high consensus among the people towards national defence and security mission and goals. Practice and promote socialist democracy, implementing the principles of “people know, people discuss, people do, people supervise, people oversee, people benefit”; igniting the desire for national development, independence, self-reliance, and resilience in all generations, especially the young generation.

Building economic capabilities: The current national defence and security tasks require accelerating the modernisation of the people's armed forces in terms of organisation, equipment, and weaponry. Therefore, all policies and strategies for national development must be closely linked to the strategy of safeguarding the Fatherland; closely integrate between economic development tasks with strengthening national defence and security; construct and develop a proactive, self-reliant, resilient, dual-use, and modern national defence industry, not only meet the requirements and tasks of defending the Fatherland but also contribute to the socio-economic development and the country's industrialisation and modernisation efforts.

Building scientific and technological capabilities: To develop scientific and technological capabilities, there needs to be appropriate policies and strategies to comprehensively advance military science, science - technology, as well as social sciences and humanity military. Concentrate on building a high-quality team of scientific personnel and leading experts in each field. Emphasise the application of advanced scientific and technological achievements from the Fourth Industrial Revolution to research, innovatively implement, provide solutions for repair, improvement, manufacturing of modern weapons and equipment, as well as ensuring logistics and technical support for new forms of warfare. Actively research, summarise practical experiences, add up, and develop theories related to national defence, military affairs, the art of people's war and Vietnam's military art in the new situation.

Building military capabilities: Emphasise on effectively educating and nurturing national defence and security knowledge for all citizens and targeted groups. Specially prioritise the development of the People's Army as “revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern” in accordance with the Resolutions of the 13th Party Congress and the 11th Party Congress of the Military Party Committee. Simultaneously, establish strong and widespread militia and self-defence forces, along with high-quality reserve forces, meeting the requirements of consolidating national defence and safeguarding the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Thirdly, build the armed forces, with the backbone being the Vietnam People's Army “revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern”

After 8 years of resistance, by 1953, we had built a strong armed force in terms of organisation, politics, and spirit; in there, six infantry brigades and one artillery brigade under the Ministry had undergone training and gained combat experience against the enemy's defensive positions from the early stage in Hoa Binh (1951) to the relatively complete stage in Na San (1952). They were equipped with new heavy firepower weapons capable of countering enemy artillery fire and disrupting their aerial supply lines. During the 1953-1954 Winter Spring Operations, our army launched strategic offensives across the Indochina battlefield, dispersing enemy forces and thwarting the Navarre Plan's mobile army concentration, thereby creating favourable conditions for the Dien Bien Phu Front. Our main brigades, supported by newly organised artillery and anti-aircraft units, creatively applied our knowledge and experience in guerrilla warfare, air defence, and artillery defence to gradually destroy the enemy's resistance nests, directly contributing to the victory of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

Currently, in order to build the armed forces, with the backbone being the People's Army “revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern”, it is necessary to deeply adhere to the Party's guideline, government policies and laws regarding military and national defence work, as well as the direction for building the military in the new situation, with a focus on Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW of the Political Bureau dated 17 January 2022, and Resolution No. 230-NQ/QUTW of the Central Military Commission dated 2 April 2022, on leading the implementation of the organisation of the Vietnam People's Army during the period 2021 - 2030 and the following years. Focus on building a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern People's Army, with certain branches, arms, and units advancing towards modernisation. By 2025, the goal is to fundamentally build an elite, compact, and strong People's Army, laying a solid foundation for striving to build a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern People's Army by 2030, serving as the backbone to strengthen national defence and safeguard the Fatherland in the new situation.

Focus on building an armed force strong in political and ideology, with comprehensive quality, high combat readiness, and absolute loyalty to the Fatherland, the Party, the government, and the people, ready to accept and successfully complete all assigned tasks. Uphold the principle of absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, and centralise and unify management of the government over the armed forces. Build a clean and strong Military Party Committee, exemplary in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel. Innovate and enhance the quality of political and ideological education for cadres and soldiers; resolutely fight against the enemy's “depoliticisation” schemes within the military; prevent and stop any signs of ideological, moral, and lifestyle degradation, “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the organisation. Implement rigorously and effectively the discipline, building strong and comprehensive units “exemplary, typical”; promote the Determined to Win Emulation Movement, closely linked with learning and following the ideology, morality, and style of Ho Chi Minh, ensuring the unity of the entire military as a united block in ideology, will, and action.

Enhance the construction of high-quality human resources across regular forces, reserve forces, and self-defence militia. Actively innovate the content, programmes, methods, and improve the quality of training, ensuring consistency, depth, adherence to perspectives, principles and associations, closely linked to practical combat application, with emphasis on key areas; absorb and creatively apply the traditional military art of the nation with modern military knowledge worldwide, strengthen the training and exercise work to improve health, master weaponry and equipment, especially new weapons and equipment with the integration of simulation technology and information technology; regularly hold exercises to enhance comprehensive quality, strength, combat capabilities in all conditions, day and night, focusing on joint combat exercises among branches and arms, defensive combat exercises at regional and provincial levels; exercises preventing unconventional security challenges, maritime and cyber warfare, disaster relief, and environmental protection, etc.

Continue organising an elite, compact and strong military, linked with reorganising and improving the quality of human resource at all levels within the military; ensure the overall coherence, synchronicity, and appropriateness among different components of forces; in line with the national defence strategy, people's war, and the capability to ensure weaponry and equipment; preserve and promote the traditions of the military and the Vietnam’s war art; develop a resilient reserve force and widespread self-defence militia across regions and territories, including maritime areas. Ensure an adequate quantity and quality of weapons and technical equipment for units involved in the missions of training, combat readiness, defence of maritime, island, border, and cyber spaces, including modern weapons and equipment to meet the demands of high-tech warfare, as well as upgrading and modernising existing weaponry and equipment; secure storage of weapons, equipment, and vehicles to meet national defence requirements and safeguard the Fatherland.

Fourthly, build a robust and widespread national defence posture

Implement the strategy of people's resistance war, where “every citizen is a soldier, every household is a resistance base, every neighbourhood is a front, every village is a fortress”, fighting against the enemy with every weapon at hand, at any time, in any place, and by any means... During the resistance war against the French colonialists, we constructed a widespread and robust people's war posture, with “the whole country united, the whole people fighting against the enemy”. Through closely combining military struggle with political struggle; regular combat with guerrilla warfare; closely coordinating between the main army, local army with militias and guerrillas; launching attacks on the enemy from both the front and the back... we harnessed the comprehensive strength of the entire nation, gradually neutralising the enemy's methods of warfare, pushing them into a passive position, and creating intense contradictions between concentrating and dispersing of forces, between quick fighting and prolonged fighting.

During the 1953-1954 Winter Spring Operations, we conducted coordinated operations across the three Indochinese countries; at the same time, we intensified our offensive and struggling activities to break the enemy's encirclement, expanding the liberated areas throughout the country's three regions, forcing the enemy into a passive position, dispersing them across a wide area, thus creating favourable conditions for the main front at Dien Bien Phu.

Nowaday, in order to consolidate and promote the national defence posture in the new situation, we need to continue to thoroughly understand and implement the Party's viewpoints on building the whole people's national defence posture, linked with the people's security posture; creatively implement the historical experiences, especially the lessons learned from the development of the people's war posture during the Winter Spring Operations of 1953 - 1954 in general and the Dien Bien Phu Campaign in particular, to construct the national defence posture at the local level, forming a solid national defence system capable of defeating various forms of invasive warfare. Focus on building comprehensive and robust military defence zones, robust defence zones at the regional and provincial levels; emphasising the establishment of the “people's heart” posture as a foundation for building the whole people's national defence posture linked with the robust people's security posture from the grassroots level.

Perform well in planning, building, and enhancing the effectiveness of activities in economic - national defence zones, especially in remote areas, border regions, maritime, and islands. Integrate closely and effectively between the economic, cultural, social, diplomatic aspects with national defence and security, as well as between national defence and security with the economy, culture, society, and diplomacy; create new positions and strengths for the national defence posture at each locality, region and nationwide, ready to fulfill the national defence tasks in peacetime and transform into the people's war posture when the country is at war. Enhance education, raise awareness and responsibility at all levels, sectors, among cadres, soldiers, and the entire population, regarding national defence and security tasks with the mission of safeguarding the Fatherland; prepare precise and timely plans and solutions to handle national defence and security situations, preventing the country from being passive or surprised.

Fifthly, expand and enhance the effectiveness of international integration, national defence diplomacy, create positions and strengths to protect the Fatherland from early and from afar

During the resistance war against French colonialism, our Party advocated for self-reliance,  relying on our own strength as the main principle while actively seeking international support both materially and spiritually. Therefore, we gradually broke the encirclement of imperialist forces, strengthened our positions and strengths, and significantly contributed to the victory of the resistance war. With assistance from socialist countries, especially China and the Soviet Union, we obtained valuable and necessary resources to effectively fight back the enemy on all fronts. During the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, the support from China and the Soviet Union helped address many urgent combat needs of our forces on the battlefield. Particularly, with the perspective that “Indochina is one battlefield”, we built a bloc of unity in the fight alongside the Laotian and Cambodian revolutions against our common enemy, created a formidable force that successively defeated the military strategies of French colonialism.

In the upcoming years, as the global and regional situations continue to evolve complexly, it is necessary for us to always grasp and accurately forecast the trends in international relations, the objectives and strategic intentions of major countries; focus on consolidating cooperative and amicable relations with countries in the region, especially neighbouring countries, ASEAN countries, major countries, and traditional friends, etc. Deploy synchronised, innovative, and effective bilateral and multilateral national defence cooperation, maximise external resources to strengthen our robust national defence, contribute to the protection of peace and stabilisation in the region and in the world.

In foreign relations, we implement a creative and effective diplomacy strategy that embodies the spirit of the “Vietnamese bamboo tree”, maintaining strategic principle, flexibility and adaptability in tactics. Remain steadfast and persistent in resolving disputes and differences through peaceful means, based on the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law; avoid conflicts, confrontations or isolation, and adhere to the "four no's" national defence policy: No participation in military alliances; no affiliation with one country to oppose another; no foreign military bases or use of Vietnamese territory to oppose other nations; and no use of force or threat of force in international relations; actively and proactively engage in United Nations peacekeeping forces and international humanitarian activities to help other countries and peoples better understand the righteous, peaceful, and defensive nature of Vietnam's national defence policy.

Time has passed, but the Victory of Dien Bien Phu remains a shining symbol of Vietnam's spirit, courage, and intelligence, as well as the strength of the Vietnamese people's war during the era of Ho Chi Minh. The lessons and experiences drawn from the historic victory at Dien Bien Phu still hold significant value and need to be continuously studied, developed, and creatively implemented in building a strong national defence system, contributing to firmly safeguarding the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland in the new situation.

General, Dr. PHAN VAN GIANG, Member of Politburo, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defence.