As an usual trick, prior to the all-level party congresses, hostile forces and political opportunists step up their sabotage strategy in a bid to distort and undermine the Party’s leadership role. Hence, identifying and resolutely repudiating the wrong, hostile arguments represent the responsibility of the entire political system and particularly each party committee, organisation and member, and cadre.

1. In fact, the hostile forces have been closely mobilising both domestic and external resources to sabotage Vietnam on many fronts and in various fields, with their malicious distortions and artifices. They have employed numerous wicked, brazen, secretive, and cunning tricks. At the same time, they have made best use of modern means of communications, mass media, and especially social networks associated with traditional methods of propagation in order to create a “matrix” for sabotaging our Party, State, and all-level party congresses. In this regard, distortion and vilification of our Party’s leadership role remain at the forefront of their sabotage scheme. Vietnamese versions of the RFI, VOA, and BBC have continuously disseminated documents by and interviews with Vietnamese discontented elements, political opportunists, and exiles about a number of domestic events in a bid to put up barriers to a sense of unity and consensus within the Party and the society on the threshold of the all-level party congresses.

2. The nature of the hostile forces’ plots and acts of sabotage prior to the all-level party congresses.

First of all, they spread fake news to distort our preparations for the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress, which is aimed at undermining the Party’s leadership role. On the Internet, social networks, and several forums, the hostile forces and political opportunists have deliberately provided fabricated information and distortions of the real situation so as to make it hard for inexperienced readers and viewers to distinguish between true and false, right and wrong as well as good and bad. They have also deliberately invented stories and claimed that our preparations would be used as a “replacement” for the all-level party congresses and deprive delegates to the congresses of their rights.” While our party organisations are actively making preparations for their congresses under the Politburo’s Directive 35-CT/TW, dated May 30^th, 2019 on the all-level party congresses towards the 13^th National Party Congress, the hostile forces and political opportunists are increasingly spreading rumours to distort and undermine the leadership role of party organisations within localities, offices, and units. They allege that “factions within localities and the whole Party are purging one another,” “there is no democracy within the Party,” and “party congresses are where the intense competition for gaining influence between the reform faction and the conservative faction occurs,” in a bid to undermine a sense of unity within the Party and its role and prestige.

Second, they focus on distorting the content of the 13^th National Party Congress’ Draft Document and personnel work as well as the preparations for the personnel work of party congresses in localities, offices, and units. This is a foxy trick aimed at raising the “core issues” of the party congresses, undermining and denying the Party’s leadership over the society. To that end, they have devoted efforts to inventing shocking stories about leaders of the Party and the State in order to defame them, cause doubt and skepticism within the society, and shake the people’s faith in the Party and the socialist regime. Taking advantage of violations of the Party’s discipline and the State’s law by a number of cadres and party members, they have made “wild guesses” to weaken unity and form oppositional factions within party organisations and the Party Central Committee. Moreover, they believe that the personnel work and the training of key cadres for the 13^th National Party Congress would put an end to delegates’ right to self-nomination, nomination, and election at the Congress.

Third, they exert themselves to exaggerate, distort, and fabricate weaknesses and limitations of localities, ministries, sectors, the Party and the State so as to reject historic tremendous achievements in the country’s renewal. This is a routine artifice; however, prior to and during the all-level party congresses, the hostile forces would adopt it more frequently in a bid to undermine and deny the Party’s leadership and distort the State’s policy. They have exploited, exaggerated, and distorted our weaknesses in economic, cultural, and social administration to undermine the Party’s leadership role. They claim that the so-called renewal achievements are just “self-designed” and “self-praised” by the Party and the State of Vietnam. According to them, in fact, the country is still underdeveloped and the people’s life is in extremely difficulty. They also believe that those achievements from the country’s renewal are “put in only the pockets of dictators and corrupt officials,” without anything left for the poor people. While pretending to support the achievements gained by our people over the past 35 years of national renewal, they have taken advantage of limitations and difficulties to sabotage our revolution. They state that although the country’s renewal has obtained encouraging achievements, it has “no motivation” to carry on anymore. According to them, it is high time to carry out “a more comprehensive reform” to more quickly accelerate the country’s development. To support their arguments, they have “petitioned” the 13^th National Party Congress to “pivot to the people and the nation.” Those arguments have been hyped and praised via mass media and on social networks, which has led to disturbances in information and public opinion.

3. Against the hostile forces and political opportunists’ distortions and sabotage plan prior to the all-level party congresses, we need to concentrate on implementing several measures as follows.

First, it is necessary to raise vigilance and “immunity” of all party organisations, cadres, party members, and people. Due attention should be paid to proactively fighting against hostile, wrong arguments and foiling all plots and acts of sabotage against our preparations and especially our personnel work for the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress. Greater importance should be attached to improving the political zeal, knowledge, and combativeness of the whole Party and each cadre and party member, particularly the key ones at all levels. Consideration should be given to enhancing the ideological and theoretical work and our cadres, party members, and people’s knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policy so as to build up their “immunity” against the hostile force’s arguments and distortions aimed at undermining the Party’s leadership role.

Second, due regard should be paid to proactively providing correct information about the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress. It is essential to disclose transparent information about our guidelines and policies to deal with the urgent, sensitive issues prior to the all-level party congresses. It is also important to prevent false information and rumours from being spread across the society. Means of communications of the Party and the State should proactively, opportunely provide information on the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress. It is vital to prevent the people from falling into a doubt about the work of communications and fight against the hostile arguments and distortions aimed at the Party’s leadership role and the all-level party congresses. The more transparently and smoothly information is provided and maintained, the more convenient it is for us to prevent and combat false, evil information and ensure the central role of official information in orientating the public opinion.

The press must play a core role in shaping information, preventing and fighting against information and distortions aimed at undermining the Party’s leadership role and sabotaging the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress. The country’s press system must maintain close coordination in predicting all wrong arguments and artifices by the hostile forces in order to control the front of communications and employ proper strategies for opportunely unmasking the hostile, wrong arguments against the Party’s leadership role. Competent offices should proactively grasp the developments of the all-level party congresses and strictly handle the hostile forces’ exploitation of “democracy” and “human rights” to disseminate documents against the Party and the State.

Third, significance should be attached to enhancing the work of internal management, opportunely fighting against cadres, party members, and public servants with the signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation,” and preventing political opportunists and discontented elements from spreading information against the Party’s leadership role. It is necessary to make all people capable of assessing official information disclosed via mass media of the Party, the State, and their localities by their own. All cadres, party members, and people must heighten their responsibility for themselves and the community when receiving all pieces of information. In addition, it is important to avoid giving assistance to the hostile forces and bad elements in distorting and undermining the Party’s leadership role as well as sabotaging the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress.

The success of the all-level party congresses and the 13^th National Party Congress together with the country’s stability and development will absolutely thwart all plots by the hostile forces to undermine and remove the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Associate Prof. Nguyen Manh Huong, PhD