Today, given development of weapons, vehicles, and types of war, some people hold that our Party’s line of people’s war in the cause of building and safeguarding the Fatherland is no longer appropriate. This is a false viewpoint which lacks scientific basis and should be resolutely rejected.

In the face of dramatic development and influence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, production of weapons and equipment has been witnessing a quantum leap forward in quantity. The weapons and equipment now have both technical and tactical superiority over the previous generations, most notably cleverness, high accuracy, great lethality, longer range, operation in adverse weather, and much more effectiveness. The appearance and advancement of high-tech weapons have fundamentally changed some viewpoints on warfare and had great influence on military art, concepts of operations, and so on. Based on such belief, hostile forces and reactionaries argue that the line of people’s war of the Communist Party of Viet Nam has become obsolete and wrong in the new context of the war to safeguard the Fatherland, especially in a war where the enemy makes use of high-tech weapons, smart weapons, and so forth. Thereby, they commend Western weapons; absolutise weapons and equipment and regard them as a decisive factor in wars; spur arms race and advise us to join military alliances with military powers. These tricks are not new but very dangerous, which aim to strike at the heart of people. They are dangerous because they are carried out in the context that major powers ceaselessly flex their muscles and deter other countries from using smart weapons and artificial intelligence (AI) in local conflicts. The true objective of hostile forces and reactionaries is to raise doubts about combat power of Viet Nam people’s war; the Party’s defence, military guideline; leverage of comprehensive strength of the entire people, etc., thus step by step steering us towards alliance and dependence on foreign countries. Theoretically and practically, reality of Vietnamese revolution has affirmed that people’s war is the only correct guideline in the struggle for national liberation and protection of the Fatherland. Those who think this is a false guideline seem to be the most erroneous people.

Why can we come to such a conclusion? The Party’s line of people’s war is the guideline for protection of the Fatherland on the basis of bringing into full play strength of the whole nation, the entire people, and the comprehensive power in terms of politics, economy, culture, society, national defence, security, and diplomacy, combining national power with that of the times. This manifests a sound choice conducive to characteristics and conditions of our country, which is not large in terms of land area and population but always confronts powerful invaders. If we had not made the most of national power, we would have not been strong enough to defeat our enemies. Therefore, there has not been any guideline that can replace the line of people’s war in the cause of safeguarding the Fatherland. The Military Strategy of Viet Nam in the new era has asserted “mobilisation of overall power of people’s war to defeat all types of war of aggression to firmly defend independence, sovereignty, unification, territorial integrity, the Party, State, people, and socialist regime, resolving to protect interests of the nation and people”.

People’s war is the only correct line to bring into full play the overall power of the entire nation to firmly safeguard the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland should the war occur. People’s war – one of innovations of Viet Nam’s art to conduct war – is the excellent inheritance of the national tradition of fighting enemies for defending the country. In the history of national building and protection, when facing much more powerful foreign aggressors, our ancestors used to successfully adopt the art of “using the few to counter the many and the small to defeat the big” on the basis of making the most of the strength of the entire people. In peacetime, various dynasties advocated national defence since the country had not been put at risk by means of polices such as “dispatch of soldiers for agricultural activities”, “alleviation of people’s contribution being the root of national power”, and reliance on people for defending the country. In wartime, our ancestors fought against the enemy by means of power of the entire people. All people wholeheartedly struggled against the enemy. All people carried out the policy on emptying and deserting their houses; fought against the enemy by means of all forces and all available weapons, at any time and in anywhere. There are many invaluable lessons learnt from these battles. The battles also contribute to creation of the nation’s glorious tradition – the tradition of fighting enemies for national defence by means of strength of the entire people. Regardless of past or present time, when the strength of the entire people is brought into full play, no alien forces can overwhelm our people. It is a fact that cannot be denied.

On the basis of creatively applying the principle of Marxism-Leninism: “Revolution is the cause of the masses” and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology on people’s war as well as excellent inheritance of the national tradition of fighting enemies for defending the country, our Party has been consistently steadfast in the guideline of people’s war in the struggle for national liberation. Thanks to such an approach, we have brought into full play the strength of the entire people to make the historic August Revolution and then achieved victories over French colonialists and American imperialists, bringing about national independence. Based on the line of people’s war, we have handled the relationship between humans and weapons in warfare correctly; attached importance to the humans who possess patriotism and high determination. Relying on the line of people’s war, we have mobilised comprehensive power of the country to successfully conduct people’s war and combine local people’s war with operations of regular army corps. The rightness of the line of people’s war has been tested through the wars for national liberation and the wars for safeguarding the Fatherland and become the key factor in any victories of Vietnamese Revolution.

The 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (13th tenure)

In the cause of defending the Fatherland, especially in the reform period, the guideline of people’s war remains a fundamental, sound policy of our Party and State for organisation, preparation, and readiness for successful execution of war to safeguard the Fatherland should a war occur. Nevertheless, today’s national defence witness developments and changes. Adversaries are likely to use high-tech weapons, smart weapons, and new concepts of operations extensively. There are increasingly high demands for protecting the Fatherland, especially defence of sovereignty over waters, islands, and national boundaries as well as struggle for countering “peaceful evolution,” riots, and acts of subversion, and maintaining peace and stability for national building and development. It is within this context that the lines of people’s war and all-people national defence remain valuable. Any argument that denies or distorts the line of people’s war is only a plot of hostile forces to do damage to Vietnamese revolution. In fact, we have never underestimated the importance of high-tech weapons. However, high-tech weapons are not miracle. They also have their own weaknesses because they are manufactured systematically and stick to certain operating procedures. Some high-tech weapons are heavily influenced by terrain and weather. Some are designed to fly at low altitude and slow speed. Proper countermeasures, including rudimentary, traditional methods, can still reduce effectiveness of high-tech weapons. M. Defourneauz, Director of NATO Technological Centre, contends that, “Even a weak opponent will nullify an entire modern weapon system if they can damage an element of the system. Conversely, to annihilate an independent group of guerrillas may require fighting to the last man”; “where a heavy tank, electronic device, or AI cannot work, man still continues to combat”; “power of weapon systems cannot replace the great for thousands of years – human power”.

No matter how modern a weapon is, it is still used by man. Thus, it is impossible to underestimate the human factor. Meanwhile the line of people’s war is the one that brings into full play the human factor characterised by resilience, undauntedness, high determination, political steadfastness, and fight for homeland and country. High-tech weapons are capable of destroying some fixed targets and causing casualties for part of our armed forces and people, but they cannot strike every place in Viet Nam and cannot be inviolable. So long as the Party, military, and people exist, we remain triumphant. It is people’s war.

The use of high-tech weapons enables the enemy to gain superiority in the air and some typical environments, but people’s war occurs mainly on land. History of wars has demonstrated clearly that who dominates the land will be the winner. People’s war is the war of intelligent, creative people, who can apply fighting methods creatively, fight the enemy anywhere and in any terrain, weather condition, and map out many methods of operations, deception, and maneuver, making it hard for the enemy to distinguish between true and false. Consequently, the enemy faces difficulty in identifying true targets for high-tech weapons.

The forces to conduct people’s war are all people, who are present everywhere to create widespread posture, capable of shooting down cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and low-flying aircraft and launching deadly attacks on depots containing high-tech weapon systems of the enemy in various environments and terrain. In the future, if war is unavoidable, we are still committed to the line of people’s war but at a higher level. We still have to confront adversaries equipped with more modern weapons than ours. It is only people’s war that can fully leverage strength of the entire people to triumph over invaders even if they resort to high-tech weapons. It is only people’s war that has many measures to make high-tech weapons less effective. This is also a trenchant answer to arguments denying and distorting our Party’s line of people’s war.

To safeguard the Fatherland by the art of people’s war in the new condition, fight the enemy by devices, and triumph over the enemy by establishment of posture and exploitation of opportunities are our people’s best ways to defend the country. No forces can defeat a true people’s war. To conduct a true people’s war in the context of enemies’ use of high-tech weapons, it is necessary to work out solutions aimed to prevent and minimise the risk of conflict and war while preparing in every aspect to successfully execute people’s war to safeguard the Fatherland.

First, there needs to establish a strong all-people national defence with high overall power, resilience, and capability to prevent and reduce the risk of conflict and war and readiness for transforming into the people’s war posture to safeguard the Fatherland. Education and propagation are to be further enhanced with a view to raising people’s sound awareness of building the all-people national defence and preparing the people’s war posture in the new condition right in peacetime. Specifically, people should be educated to have correct understanding of situations, objects of struggle, partners of cooperation, defence and security contingencies, and objectives and missions of protecting the Fatherland. Special importance should be attached to education aimed to promote correct awareness of high-tech weapons, thereby helping people to overcome fear, worry, and lack of belief in national power. This will foster people’s high determination to build the all-people national defence both in potential, force, and posture. Attention must be paid to building of the political system and people’s heart and mind posture, socio-economic development in combination with strengthening national defence and security and establishing elements of the military posture, and building of the all-people national defence in connection with establishment of the people’s security posture. An increasingly modern all-people national defence provide solid foundation for carrying out people’s war to safeguard the Fatherland successfully. Force forms the basis for force development to meet the demand of war. Potential serves as a pivotal ground for mobilising underlying capabilities of the country in support of the war. Posture is the major ground for shifting to people’s war posture to protect the Fatherland.

Second, building an adept, compact, strong military advancing towards modernity. The People’s Army must be built in a modern direction in every aspect, including politics, ideology, organisation, technical equipment, order and discipline, training, and support. Importance must be attached to development of competence, organisation, equipment, weapons, and operational art, in which modernity in terms of weapons and equipment plays a vital role in high-tech wars. We always affirm that man is the decisive factor. However, the same people with better weapons and equipment will have higher operational performance. Therefore, in addition to building high-quality human resources, it is necessary to closely combine innovation and modernisation of existing weapons and equipment with production and procurement of modern technical equipment, focusing on equipping the military with strategic weapons, which have a long reach, superior firepower, and high accuracy. This will help to enhance deterrence since peacetime and achieve victories if we are forced to go to war. Further efforts should be made in building robust municipal, provincial defence zones, protecting every area and administrative boundary, and bringing into full play people’s power to build the all-people national defence in order to provide a springboard for all people to fight the enemy.

Third, it is important to promote research into military science, especially the military art of people’s war. Importance must be attached to study and forecast, especially strategic forecast and prediction about challenges, defence and security contingencies, and potential types of war. When undertaking research into adversaries, it is necessary to concentrate on those with ability to launch large-scale wars of aggression while avoiding belittling those with plots to encroach upon our national boundaries, waters, and islands. Further studies should be carried out into high-tech warfare as well as the prevention and response to high-tech weapons. Theory about people’s war to safeguard the Fatherland is to be developed, especially the theories about emerging concepts of operations, defensive warfare, countering enemy fires, integrated offensive warfare, cyberspace warfare, electronic warfare, and so forth. Research into wars help us to draw lessons learnt from liberation wars but we should not fall into empiricism. Studies must be suitable for new operational conditions of the people’s war to defend the Fatherland.

Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Doctor TRAN THAI BINH