With the motto of "no forbidden zones", "no exceptions", "no matter who it is", thanks to the leadership of the Party, the participation of the people and the whole political system, the fight against corruption and negativity in our country has become a political determination and achieved many important results, which is agreed and supported by cadres, party members and people, and highly appreciated by international organisations. It's an irreversible trend!

Corruption is a fairly common phenomenon in societies with class division and state. This problem occurs in any state or political regime in the world in different extend, not only in Vietnam. In his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once pointed out three diseases of embezzlement, wastefulness, and bureaucracy, and called them internal enemies deriving from individualism. Therefore, as soon as Vietnam gained its power, President Ho Chi Minh soon warned us about the dangers of the above diseases which he termed “disintegrity” for what we now call corruption and negativity. He considered embezzlement and wastefulness the most evil things in society, just like stealing public property for private needs. The offenders, regardless of position, must be brought to trial in accordance with the law to uphold the state's power. The death sentence for Tran Du Chau, Director of the Military Supplies Department, in 1950 was a prime evidence for the Party and Government’s resolve in preventing and combating corruption from the very early age.

During the time when our country was conducting the resistance war against the US imperialists, despite having to focus on the heavy tasks of the revolution, our Party always paid attention to the fight against corruption. On April 26, 1962, the Politburo (3^rd tenure) issued Resolution No. 51-NQ/TW "On the campaign to raise the sense of responsibility, strengthen economic and financial management, fight against corruption, waste and bureaucracy". One year later, on July 24, 1963, the Politburo (3^rd tenure) issued Resolution No. 85-NQ/TW "On the campaign to raise the sense of responsibility, strengthen economic and financial management, improve technology, fight against embezzlement, waste and bureaucracy" in order to expand the management,  prevent and repel corruption.

Reaslising the increasingly serious defect of power when the country entered the period of socialism construction, our Party attentively mentioned the fight against corruption in the documents of the National Party Congresses. At the 11^th National Party Congress, our Party clearly pointed out: "The problem of political, ideological, moral and lifestyle degradation among a large number of cadres and party members and the situation of corruption, wastefulness, bureaucracy, negativity and social evils have yet to be prevented and repelled but even see new complicated developments". At the 13^th National Congress, our Party continued to affirm that "Corruption is still one of the threats to the survival of the Party and the regime". Moreover, in the 10 year time span from 2012 to 2022, “the Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat issued more than 250 documents on building the Party and political system and anti-corruption; The National Assembly amended, supplemented and promulgated more than 300 new laws, ordinances and resolutions; The Government and the Prime Minister issued more than 2,000 decrees and decisions. Ministries, sectors and localities promulgated thousands of normative documents to promptly institutionalise and implement the Party's guidelines and policies on socio-economic management and anti-corruption. In particular, at the 5th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th tenure), our Party decided to establish a Central Steering Committee for Anti-corruption under the Politburo, headed by the Party Chief. Then, at the 5th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (13^th tenure), our Party decided to establish Steering Committees for anti-corruption in all 63 provinces and cities headed by the Secretary of the Provincial and Municipal Party Committees. That shows anti-corruption has never been disregarded but of top concern by our  Party and State.

The political determination of our Party and State in the fight against corruption has also been demonstrated in drastic and effective actions. In the 10 year period between 2012 and 2022, 2,740 party organisations and more than 167,700 cadres and party members, including over 190 cadres of the Central level were disciplined. In addition, the investigation, prosecution and trial of corruption cases were also conducted in a serious manner. Also for the past 10 years, functional agencies nationwide have prosecuted and investigated 19,546 cases with 33,868 defendants, prosecuted 16,699 cases with 33,037 defendants; trialed 15,857 cases with 30,355 defendants for corruption. Since the beginning of the 13^th National Party Congress to date, law enforcement agencies have prosecuted and investigated 4,200 cases with 7,572 defendants for corruption-related crime. Those figures affirm that the policy and resolve to prevent and combat corruption and negativity of our Party are absolutely correct in both theory and practice, in line with objective reality, the trend of the times and unanimously supported by the people.

It must be affirmed that the prevention and fight against corruption and negativity are indispensable and objective issues of every state and social regime. As for our country, this struggle not only makes an important contribution to building the Party, the State and the whole political pure and strong, but also strengthens the people's firm belief in the Party, State and the socialist regime. With the high political determination of the Party, anti-corruption has become a "high movement", a great political responsibility of cadres and party members to the Party, the State, the people and the country's destiny. Not only were cadres and party members who were found guilty of corruption punished in accordance with the law, but their superiors also held accountability for this, which is a great advance in anti-corruption work, a change in awareness and actions of cadres and party members before the country.

To date, it can be affirmed that the anti-corruption work directed by the Party and State, has gone into depth, making strong strides, and achieving positive, clear and substantive results. The results that we have achieved in this cause have not only strengthened the confidence of Vietnamese people but also earned the trust of the international community in the strictness of Party discipline and State law in preventing and combating corruption. Professor Vladimir Kolotov, Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute at St. Petersburg State University, commented: "The anti-corruption campaign initiated by the Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong represents an important strategic vision kicked off long ago. The situation is changing, the corruption situation is seeing changes, and the anti-corruption work is also changing,…”. “The Vietnamese example provides a valuable lesson that can be followed by other nations as corruption is endemic globally”, run by Times of India. After the National Conference reviewing 10 years of anti-corruption work in the period between 2012 and 2022, Bloomberg commented: "The conference reviewing Vietnam's 10 years of anti-corruption has ushered in a new phase in the fight against corruption with the establishment of Steering Committees for the prevention and control of corruption and negativity in provinces. The recent punishments of high-ranking officials show the strong resolve of the Party and law enforcement agencies in the fight against corruption with the mindset of no tolerance, no forbidden zone, and no exception”.

With the participation and unanimity of the whole political system, the fight against corruption in Vietnam has been carried out in a sustained, humane, systematic and persuasive manner with the motto of no tolerance, no forbidden zones, no exceptions, and become a movement and an "irreversible trend", which is highly supported by the people. As a result, corruption is being increasingly curbed, prevented, repelled and on the decreasing trend, contributing to maintaining political stability, promoting socio-economic development, strengthening the confidence of cadres, party members and people, creating new momentum for the entire Party and people to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress. At the same time, it is the clearest evidence to refute the false and distorted allegations about the current anti-corruption work in our country.

Senior Colonel, Dr. NGUYEN VAN PHUONG, Military Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ministry of National Defence