80 years ago, implementing the Directive of leader Ho Chi Minh, on 22 December 1944, the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team, the predecessor of the Vietnam People's Army, was established. This was a turning point event marking a new development step of the revolutionary armed forces under the leadership of the Party. For the first time in history, the working class and people of Vietnam had a new type of army organised, led, educated and trained by the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh.

Born at a difficult time of the Vietnamese revolution, but under the absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Party, the help, protection and shelter of the People and the support of international friends, over the past 80 years, our Army has continuously grown, matured, achieved numerous brilliant feats, embellished the heroic and indomitable tradition of the nation, worthy of the praise of President Ho Chi Minh: “Our Army is loyal to the Party, filial to the people, ready to fight and sacrifice for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland, for socialism; accomplish every task, overcome every difficulty, and defeat every enemy”.

Vietnam People's Army was awarded with Ho Chi Minh Order on the 80th anniversay of its foundation

It can be affirmed that throughout the 80-year journey of building, fighting, winning and growing up with lots of hardships and sacrifices, our Army has written a heroic tradition, brilliant feats, engraved in the history of the nation with significant milestones. The glorious victories that our Army has achieved are also the victories of our people, our nation, closely linked to the great achievements of the Vietnamese revolution in the Ho Chi Minh era. We are proud of the generations of cadres and soldiers who sacrificed their youth so that the country could gain independence and freedom, and our nation could step up to the stage of glory, standing shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents. We are grateful to the glorious Party, the great Uncle Ho who founded, led, educated and trained our Army; we are also grateful to the heroic martyrs who sacrificed for the Fatherland. We are even more proud that our nation has given birth and nurtured generations of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" - a unique and distinct identity of the Army and the Vietnamese nation.

Currently, the world and regional situation is undergoing great and unpredictable changes. Peace, cooperation and development are still the major trends, but strategic competitions, local conflicts, territorial sovereignty disputes in many regions, etc. continue to increase with the emergence of multiple forms of war, methods and tactics of combat in both traditional and non-traditional fields, threatening global peace, stability and security. The Asia-Pacific region, including Southeast Asia, continues to develop dynamically, but has the potential of instability that may even lead to conflicts. Domestically, the renovation process has brought our country an increasingly high foundation, potential, position and international prestige, but there are still several difficulties, challenges and new complex problems. Reactionary forces and political opportunists at home and abroad continue to promote "peaceful evolution", promote "self-evolution", "self-transformation", "depoliticisation" of the Army with increasingly sophisticated and insidious tricks, etc.

That situation requires the entire army to continue to promote the heroic tradition and glorious career over the past 80 years, focusing on building an elite, compact, and modern Army to meet the requirements of the task of safeguarding the Fatherland in all situations, with many drastic and synchronous solutions; in which, the focus is on successfully implementing some of the following main contents and solutions.

First, consistently improve the quality of building a politically strong Army. Building a politically strong Army must be the top and key issue in building an elite, compact, and modern Army, with the focus on maintaining, strengthening, and ensuring the principle of the Party's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the Army.

Accordingly, Party committees and Party organisations at all levels in the entire army need to continue to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement Resolution No. 51-NQ/TW, dated 20 July 2005 of the Politburo (9th tenure), Resolution No. 513-NQ/ĐUQSTW, dated 17 November 2005 of the Central Military Party Committee (now the Central Military Commission) on continuing to perfect the Party's leadership mechanism, implementing the one-person commander regime in conjunction with implementing the political commissar and political officer regime in the Vietnam People's Army. Regularly take care of and perform well the work of Party building and rectification, building a truly clean and strong Army Party organisation that is exemplary in politics, ideology, ethics, organisation and cadres; constantly improve leadership capacity and combat strength. Continue to thoroughly grasp, fully, creatively and effectively implement the guidelines and policies of the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence on military, national defence, building and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new development stage of the country.

General Phan Van Giang had a check of troops participating in the ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory

Along with that, agencies and units must actively innovate and improve the quality and effectiveness of propaganda and education on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the tradition of patriotism, revolutionary struggle, and the spirit of national self-reliance. Continue to implement Conclusion No. 01-KL/TW, dated 18 May 2021 of the Politburo (13th tenure) on implementing Directive No. 05-CT/TW, dated 15 May 2016 of the Politburo (12th tenure) "On promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle"; Resolution No. 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021 of the Central Military Commission on promoting the qualities of "Uncle Ho's soldiers", resolutely fighting against individualism in the new situation; promoting the spirit of self-cultivation, training, and striving to rise up of the contingent of cadres and party members according to the spirit of "7 dares" and revolutionary ethical standards in the new period according to Regulation No. 144-QD/TW, dated 9 May 2024 of the Politburo (13^th tenure). Promoting the role and effectiveness of party work, political work, preserving solidarity, fighting against signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics, lifestyle, "self-evolution", "self-transformation"; proactively fighting to firmly protect the ideological and cultural battlefield of the Party in the Army, fighting against the plots and tricks of "depoliticising" the Army by hostile forces. Second, focus on building human resources, especially those of high-quality to build an elite, compact and strong Army. The strength of a revolutionary army is the result of a synthesis of multiple factors: people, organisations, weapons, equipment, and the art of warfare, etc. in which people are the decisive factor, weapons and technical equipment are very important factors. People with will, intelligence, and skills are the subject and the centre that will determine the maximum development of the material strength of weapons and technical equipment; weapons and technical equipment, no matter how modern, are still created and controlled by people to create real strength. To build an elite, compact, strong and modern Army, it is necessary to focus on building human resources, especially high-quality human resources, and to take care of building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the operational and strategic levels, with reasonable quantity, structure, and high quality who would play the core role, set examples and take the lead in military and defence activities.

Military institutions must continue to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement Resolution No. 1657-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022 of the Central Military Commission on innovation in education and training to meet the requirements and tasks of building the Army in the new situation; innovate education and training in the direction of standardisation and modernisation; build a system of smart institutions and research institutes, approach the Fourth Industrial Revolution, link training at institutions with training and practice at units, link institutions with training grounds and battlefields. Actively apply scientific and technological achievements and proactively integrate internationally to serve the innovation and development of education and training in the Army, especially the training of leading cadres, scientists and experts. Promote the summary and research of military science, supplement and develop Vietnamese military theory and art. In particular, focusing on researching and applying the achievements of modern military science and theory in the world to the actual conditions of the country, on the basis of the national defence and the people's war posture; researching and compiling a system of textbooks and documents suitable for the goals and requirements of training high-quality human resources in the new situation.

Agencies and units focus on improving the quality of training according to Resolution No. 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022 of the Central Military Commission; promoting the implementation of training according to the motto "basic, practical, solid", close to the tasks, objects, areas, combat environments, combat reality; increasing night training, complex training in high-intensity conditions, focusing on practice; organising training, competitions, sports festivals, drills at all levels, ... to ensure strictness and safety; Improve practical capacity, master weapons, equipment, and facilities in the establishment, especially new weapons and equipment; actively apply information technology, simulation technology, and technical means to training. Along with education and training, agencies, units, and institutions need to promote the building of regularity and strictly enforce discipline. In particular, the building of regularity must ensure comprehensiveness, focusing on improving regularity in training, combat readiness, and management of people, weapons, and technical equipment; ensure unity from the will to action; at the same time, regularly care for and ensure good material and spiritual life for soldiers, pay attention to building a military cultural environment, and proactively fight against deviant and uncultured manifestations and behaviours. In addition, strengthen education work, build self-awareness in implementing regimes, regular rules, law compliance, discipline, and order in each agency, unit, institution and the entire army.

Third, promote the adjustment of force organisation, modernisation of weapons and equipment for each military service, arms, force and the entire army. Thoroughly implementing the Party's guidelines and policies, especially Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, dated 25 October 2017, the 6th Conference of the Party Central Committee (12th tenure) on "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganise the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined, effective and efficient", Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW, dated 17 January 2022 of the Politburo, Resolution No. 230-NQ/QUTW, dated 2 April 2022 of the Central Military Commission on leading the implementation of the organisation of the Vietnam People's Army in the period of 2021 - 2030 and the following years, in recent years, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence have focused on leading and directing the synchronous implementation of solutions to build an elite, compact and strong Army, which has basically created balance and synchronisation between the military services and arms, between agencies and units, and between regular forces and reserve forces. At the same time, focus on investing and developing the defence industry in a proactive, self-reliant, dual-use, and modern direction; expand international cooperation; research, develop and master manufacturing technology and successfully produce a number of strategic weapons necessary for national defence and ensure a step forward in quantity, improve the quality of weapons and technical equipment.

To complete the goals set out in the roadmap for building an elite, compact and strong Army, it is required to adjust the organisations of the entire army's forces decisively, with high concentration, closely following the progress; ensure synchronisation and balance between the forces, ensure policy and cadres work in accordance with the national defence policy, people's war, the ability to ensure equipment, logistics supply and combat level of the troops. Adjusting the organisations of the forces must be associated with consolidating and perfecting newly organised units, merging with consolidating and perfecting the grassroots party organisation; associated with promoting administrative reform, applying information technology to management, digital transformation, and developing e-Government in the Ministry of National Defence. Continue to strengthen new, modern, highly mobile and high-quality equipment, ensuring synchronisation, suitable to the country's economic conditions, meeting the requirements of tasks in the new situation; at the same time, actively preserve, exploit, and effectively use existing weapons and equipment; research and combine the effective use of old and new weapons and equipment in modern warfare conditions, in line with the people's war policy. Proactively ensure weapons and equipment, especially modern weapons and equipment; continue to invest in building a modern, self-sufficient, dual-use defence industry to meet the requirements for weapons and technical equipment, especially strategic and modern weapons, and actively expand international cooperation and transfer of defence technology.

Fourth, continue to promote the synergy of the entire political system and the core role of the People's Army in building a strong national defence. Over the past 80 years, implementing the Party's guideline of people's war and all-people national defence, we have highly promoted the synergy of the entire nation combined with the strength of the times, taking the people's armed forces, directly the People's Army as the core, creating the synergy to defeat the enemy (in the national liberation revolution) as well as maintain and strengthen national defence, security, and firmly protect the Fatherland during the period of national construction and development. Promoting that tradition and experience, in the coming time, building an elite, compact, strong, and modern Army must be associated with consolidating and enhancing the core role of the Army in building a national defence in association with people's security. This is the principle and condition to ensure the success of the goal of building a modern army as determined by the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress. Accordingly, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp and synchronously and effectively implement the Party's guidelines, policies and laws and the State's laws on military, national defence and national protection, focusing on the Resolution of the 8th Central Conference (13th tenure) on the Strategy for National Defence in the new situation, Vietnam's National Defence Strategy, Vietnam's Military Strategy, National Security Protection Strategy, National Border Protection Strategy, National Cyberspace Protection Strategy, etc.

Agencies and units in the entire army need to coordinate with central and local ministries, branches and sectors to synchronously and effectively implement the task of building and consolidating the all-people national defence, people's security, the all-people national defence posture associated with the people's security posture, especially building an increasingly strong "people's hearts posture" in each locality and the whole country. Strengthen education, training and dissemination of national defence and security knowledge to continuously raise awareness for all subjects and the entire population. Continue to mobilise all resources and potentials in building the solid defence for military regions and defence areas at all levels; build and improve the quality of operations of reserve forces, militia and self-defence forces, especially regular militia and regular combat posts participating in protecting sovereignty over borders, seas and islands. Regularly coordinate closely with the police force and related forces to promptly and effectively handle national defence and security situations, maintain political security, order and social safety in each locality and the whole country. Actively participate in building the grassroots political system, propagating, mobilising and helping people in their daily life, labour, production, prevention and control of natural disasters and epidemics, etc., in order to continuously foster the kinship between the people and the army, contributing to building a solid "people's heart and mind posture".

Fifth, actively and proactively expand and improve the effectiveness of international cooperation and defence diplomacy in the new situation. International integration and defence diplomacy are important pillars of the Party's foreign affairs, State diplomacy and people's diplomacy, contributing to increasing resources for building the Army, consolidating national defence to be increasingly strong, meeting the requirements and tasks of the revolution in each period. Today, to build an elite, compact, strong and modern Army, along with promoting internal resources and relying mainly on one's own strength, it is necessary to actively and proactively expand and improve the effectiveness of international cooperation and defence diplomacy. Accordingly, Party committees and commanders of agencies and units need to focus on thoroughly disseminating and educating cadres and soldiers, especially those working in foreign affairs, to firmly grasp the foreign policies and guidelines of the Party and State as defined in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress; Resolution of the 8th Central Committee (13th tenure) on the Strategy for National Defence in the new situation; especially Conclusion No. 53-KL/TW dated 28 April 2023 of the Politburo, Resolution No. 2662-NQ/QUTW dated 26 February 2024 of the Central Military Commission on international integration and defence diplomacy to 2030 and the following years, along with conclusions and directives of the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, as well as viewpoints, principles, goals, requirements, and tasks of international integration and defence diplomacy. Creatively applying the "bamboo diplomacy" policy, under the direct leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, agencies and units in the entire army need to implement synchronously, creatively and substantially with a focus on bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation. Proactively and effectively resolve defence cooperation relations with neighbouring countries, major countries, strategic partners, ASEAN countries, and traditional friendly countries; firmly adhere to the "four no's" defence policy; ensure the highest national interests on the basis of international law; strengthen research, proactively grasp, accurately and promptly forecast trends in international relations, especially relations between countries and organisations that directly affect Vietnam's national security interests.

Under the leadership of the Party and the light of Ho Chi Minh's thought, over the past 80 years, the Vietnam People's Army has continuously grown and developed, successfully completing all assigned tasks. Promoting the heroic tradition and glorious career, the entire army continues to strive to successfully complete military and defence tasks, determined to successfully achieve the goal of basically building an elite, compact, strong and modern Army by 2025, contributing with the entire Party and people to bring the country into a new era of national development, building and firmly safeguarding the socialist Vietnam’s Fatherland.

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