Managing and protecting national sovereignty and security in the border area in general, at sea in particular constitute a central political task of the Border Guard Force. Being fully aware of that task, Border Guard Squadron 38 has been synchronously implementing measures to manage and firmly protect national sovereignty as the basis for building a Gulf of Tonkin of peace, stability, security, safety, cooperation, and sustainable development.

In the 1990s, after our Party and State’s open-door policy had been introduced, illegal infiltration and cargo transportation by foreign ships as well as smuggling, trade frauds, and piracy were extremely complicated, thereby imposing urgent requirements on the management and protection of our national sovereignty and border security as well as the Gulf of Tonkin. Against that backdrop, Flotilla 2 (under Hai Phong Municipal Border Guard Command), the forerunner of Border Guard Squadron 38, was established and assigned to cooperate with other forces in firmly defending national sovereignty, political security, and social order and safety in the Gulf of Tonkin of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin

Immediately after its establishment, the Squadron proactively consolidated its organisational structure, held professional training courses for its staff, improved its bases and wharves, prepared material and technical facilities, and quickly developed plans/projects to prevent, combat, and settle violations of our national border, illegal fishing, and violations of law in the sea stretching from Quang Ninh province to Ha Tinh province. In the past 30 years of construction, combat, and maturity, the Squadron has always successfully and excellently fulfilled all assigned tasks, closely coordinated with relevant forces in building a firm posture of all-people border defence at sea and on islands, organised patrols to closely monitor the observance of Vietnam’s law, Vietnam-China Boundary Delimitation Agreement for the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam-China Agreement on Fishery Cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin, and international law of the sea within the sea of responsibility, captured, handled, and repelled thousands of foreign ships violating Vietnam’s sovereignty, actively fought against piracy, smuggling, and trade frauds, and actively taken part in natural disaster prevention and combat as well as search and rescue.

In any circumstance, in spite of any difficulty or danger caused by harsh weather conditions and foxy artifices of crimes of all types at sea, regardless of independent operation or coordination with other forces, cadres and soldiers of the Squadron have all remained vigilant and determined to manage and firmly protect national sovereignty and border security at sea, thereby building the unit’s tradition of “unity, creativity, ingenuity, courage, determination to win”. In recent years, thanks to regard paid by the Party, State, Ministry of National Defence (MND), and particularly the Command of the Border Guard Force (BGF), the Squadron has been provided with a large number of heavy-tonnage, high-powered, high-speed ships and motorboats, such as SPA-4207 ship, BP-18 ship, and special combat motorboats as an incentive for its successful fulfilment of all assigned tasks. With their brilliant feats of arms and achievements, many collectives and individuals from the Squadron have been honoured with noble awards by the State, MND, BGF Command, and coastal localities’ authorities.

Currently and in the upcoming time, the task of managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security at sea is imposing more demanding requirements on the Squadron. Meanwhile, the Squadron’s affiliates are scattered in a large sea; a number of ships and motorboats are being deteriorated; several cadres and soldiers are facing difficult circumstances. To well perform its assigned tasks, the Squadron will focus on several basic solutions as follows.

First, enhancing all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and direction over the management and protection of national sovereignty and border security at sea. The Squadron’s Party Committee and Command will direct offices and units to grasp resolutions and directives by the Party, Government, Central Military Commission, MND, and BGF Party Committee and Command on the importance of managing and protecting territorial sovereignty and border security at sea, particularly Resolution 33-NQ/TW, dated 28^th September 2018, by the Politburo on the Strategy for National Border Protection, the Vietnam Border Defence Law of 2020, and other documents and guidance. Grounded on those documents, offices and units will develop their own yearly resolution with specific goals, targets, and measures relevant to their particularities. To improve the efficiency of leadership and direction, the Squadron’s Party Committee and Command will consolidate the Squadron’s structure in an “elite, compact, strong” manner and organise training courses to better all-level party committees and commands’ leadership, combativeness, and management. Great value will be attached to commanders’ capacity to concretise resolutions into action plans and methods and aligning the building of party organisations and a contingent of key cadres with personnel preparation for all-level Party Congresses in the upcoming time.

Second, continuing to raise the quality of combat training. Grasping and realising Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20^th December 2022, by the Central Military Commission and especially the BGF Party Committee’s Resolution 775-NQ/ĐU, dated 24^th March 2023 on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 – 2030 and beyond, the Squadron will direct its offices and units to carefully prepare personnel, training plans and schedules, lesson plans, and training models, equipment, and grounds in accordance with their tasks. Significance will be attached to innovating equipment for simulation training and upgrading physical and specialised training zones. Training courses will be well organised under mottos, viewpoints, principles, and connections set for training work. Consideration will be given to holding synchronous, specialised training courses, taking practice as the central part, and equipping troops with legal knowledge and skills in conducting patrols, maintaining coordination for settling situations, mastering ships and particularly modern weapons and technical equipment. While training should be combined with the sharing of hands-on experience at sea, training, practice, and exercises should be associated with discipline management and regularity building. On a yearly basis, 90% of cadres must be rated distinction in training work, all troops must get pass with 80% of them earning merit or distinction, and all units must ensure safety. At the same time, due attention will be paid to organising contests, examinations, re-examinations, and preliminary and final reviews to draw lessons and create an even change in training work of offices and units as the basis for raising the Squadron’s synergy, combat strength, and readiness to opportunely, effectively respond to situations and avoid passivity.

Conducting law propagation and dissemination for fishermen at sea

Third, enhancing professional measures to improve the quality and effectiveness of managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security in the sea of responsibility. The Squadron will synchronously implement professional measures to grasp and correctly forecast the maritime border security situation to opportunely advise the BGF’s Party Committee and Command on managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security. Emphasis will be placed on renewing and improving the work of border reconnaissance, bettering the operation of the secret force, and grasping hostile forces’ plots and artifices as well as the situation in border, sea, island, and key areas. The Squadron will proactively develop and submit its yearly and quarterly plans on deploying personnel and means for border and sea management and protection as well as its projects for natural disaster prevention and combat, search and rescue to the BGF Command for approval. The Squadron will improve the efficiency of its affiliates during their patrol and the process of settling, capturing, and repelling foreign vessels violating our national sovereignty and border security at sea in compliance with the motto of both firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security and maintaining Vietnam’s cooperative and friendly relationship with other countries, thus contributing to realising our Party and State’s policies on defence diplomacy, border defence diplomacy, and international integration.

Fourth, improving logistics and technical work for task performance. The Squadron will strive to maintain sufficient logistics materials and equipment under Decision 1221/QĐ-BTL, dated 26^th March 2019, by the BGF Command. It will be proactive in disease prevention, ensure the rate of healthy troops standing at over 98.6%, and effectively implement the emulation movement “Military Logistics Branch follows Uncle Ho’s teachings”. Moreover, it will enhance inspection and supervision of technical conditions of vessels for regular and contingency tasks, well conduct Campaign 50, maintain regulations on technical maintenance, and promote creativity and self-reliance in repair work.

Fifth, bettering coordination with forces to create synergy for successfully fulfilling all tasks. The Squadron will continue closely cooperating with the Navy, the Coast Guard, the Fisheries Resources Surveillance, the Customs, the Northern Task Force on Drugs and Crime Prevention and Combat, the BGF Command, and local party committees and authorities from Quang Ninh province to Ha Tinh province as well as with other forces in managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security, particularly in combating crimes and violations of law, protecting natural resources, defending legitimate benefits of organisations and individuals at sea. It will attach importance to conducting preliminary and final reviews to opportunely detect shortcomings, supplement and complete regulations and mechanisms for the sake of smooth, effective coordination in the implementation of tasks. Last but not least, it will focus on building and promoting the strength of the all-people border defence and the posture of all-people border defence associated with the postures of all-people national defence and people’s security at sea, stepping up the movement “all people take part in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security in the new situation” as the basis for successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Col. VU TRONG QUYNH

Commander of the Squadron