Naval forces’ political will is made up of various components, the cornerstone of which include powerful political ideology, absolute loyalty to the Party, Homeland and the people, strong determination to combat, fine moral qualities, great professional  competence, and readiness to combat and sacrifice their lives for firmly protecting the Homeland’s sovereignty over seas and islands in any circumstance. Building up political will is fundamental to Party and political work, laying a foundation for developing soldiers’ combat power.

Naval Zone 3, comprised of training units and combat readiness units, plays a core role in managing and defending strategic waters and islands which constantly witness complicated and unpredictable developments. In order to successfully fulfil this task, Naval Zone 3’s soldiers have to encounter numerous difficulties and challenges, including deaths. Against this backdrop, it is required that Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command ceaselessly do their utmost to build up soldiers’ political will by means of various measures, the centrepiece of which is the effective implementation of the 12th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on  “Further learning from and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle” (hereinafter Directive 05).

Rear Admiral Mai Trong Dinh chairs a conference on the personnel work

To begin with, Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command have actively reformed contents and forms to enhance the quality of political education with emphasis being placed on Project “Reforming political education in military units in the new situation”, under the motto of “teaching soldiers, looking after soldiers; local administrations, families and units joining hands  in delivering education to soldiers; relieving soldiers of the pressure of work and achievements”. When it comes to communication and education, Naval Zone 3 has put great store by disseminating information concerning socio-economic and political situations and  assigned tasks while providing orientation pertaining to complicated problems, thus ensuring a high level of uniform awareness and action. Furthermore, Naval Zone 3 has closely cooperated with local administrations and soldiers’ families in keeping track of their social life.

In addition, Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on enhancing the quality of studying resolutions. Special attention has been paid to providing soldiers with basic tenets of Marxism – Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle, the Party and the State’s line on defending national sovereignty over the Homeland’s seas and islands and settling territorial disputes in the East Sea, resolutions, particularly the Resolution of the 12th  Party National Congress, Vietnam’s Maritime Strategy towards 2020, the Resolution of the 11th Party Central Committee’s 8th plenum on “the Strategy for defending the Homeland in the new situation”. In doing so, Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command have enabled their soldiers to be imbued with Vietnam’s consistent line that parties shall maintain the status quo and settle disputes by peaceful means without resorting to the threat or use of force, on the basis of respect for national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) in order to ensure legitimate interests of all parties and to transform the East Sea into a sea of peace, cooperation and development.

Studying resolutions has been carried out on a constant basis in any circumstance. Political education has been delivered in tandem with the building of regularity, the maintenance of discipline and the promotion of widespread participation from socio-political and cultural organizations and the media at both local and central levels At the same time, implementing Directive 05 has been closely linked with building Party organizations of purity and comprehensive strength as well as multiplying role models. Forms of political education have been diversified, including audio-visual aids, role models, symposiums, forums, round-table discussions, pocket manuals, and so on.

In order for the spirit of Directive 05 to be circulated to all military personnel, Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command have set out basic criteria that individuals and collections are to strive to  fulfil based on their specific assigned tasks. Those criteria are centred around basic tenets of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle, fine characteristics of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers and naval forces”, and emulation movements “Determination to win”. Every year, 100% of cadres, Party members and other military personnel commit themselves to strive for those criteria, to avoid violations of discipline and laws,  as well as to counteract  manifestations of degradation in political ideology, morality and lifestyle, “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within.  Moreover, Naval Zone 3 has attached much importance to promoting roles and senses of responsibility by Party committees. Accordingly, Party committees, political commissars and commanders are to constantly renovate their thinking and set inspiring examples to non-Party membership military personnel. Emphasis has been placed on effectively implementing models, including “members of Party committees help cadres; Party members instruct non-Party membership personnel”, “2 qualities (quality of resolutions and quality of implementing resolutions) and 2 promotions (promotion of senses of responsibility, promotion senses of self-criticism and criticism)” under the motto of “4 concentrations (concentration on greater awareness and responsibility; concentration on comprehensive leadership and democratic centralism; concentration on educating, training and managing cadres and Party members; concentration on building Party committees and Party cells of purity and strength) and 1 combination (combination of building Party organizations of purity and strength and comprehensively strengthening units)”, which aims to build Party organizations characterized by 4 goods (good awareness and responsibility; good quality of Party cells’ meetings, good democracy, solidarity and discipline; good self-criticism and criticism).

The ship No.952 (Brigade 161) rescues a fishing boat

Measures for building up soldiers’ political will have been adopted in such a way that they stay as close to reality as possible under the motto of   “words matching actions while inspection and supervision have been stepped up. Commanders and political commissars have always   “studied first, done first and  ensured effectiveness in every deed”; demonstrated strong political will in any circumstance; as well as stayed close to and actively encouraged soldiers to effectively implement “3 buildings (building strong political will, building great determination, building a profound sense of responsibility), 3 counterings (countering “self-evolution”, countering manifestations of mediocrity, countering letters of complaints against statutory regulations)” so that learning from and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and lifestyle becomes a matter of routine among  soldiers. At the same time, the implementation of Directive 05 has been considered as the yardstick of collectives and individuals’ performance. Importance has been attached to multiplying role models, examples of “good person, good deed”, etc.

Naval Zone 3’s Party Committee and Command have taken the implementation of Directive 05 associated with training, combat readiness,  the building of regularity and the maintenance of discipline as the cornerstone of measures for building up soldiers’ political will. Training is under the motto of “basics, practicalities, thorough grasp”. Great importance is attached to synchronized and in-depth training, close to combat realities, requirements, assignments and operational areas of units, consonant with their organizational structure and equipment. The goal is to firmly defend the country’s sea and island sovereignty and to make Naval Zone 3 “revolutionary, regular, highly skilled, and modernized”. Units across Naval Zone 3 have concentrated on developing combat readiness power, “building regularity and  managing soldiers without alcohol concentration in blood and breath while driving”.

Thanks to those aforementioned measures, so far, the Party’s political base within Naval Zone 3 has been increasingly consolidated. Military personnel in Naval Zone 3 all have confidence in the Party’s line, the State’s policies and laws, as well as leadership from Party committees and commanders at all levels. They are completely free from degradation in political ideology and have actively counteracted manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. Every year, in terms of political, military, logistic and technical tests and examinations, 100% of Naval Zone 3’s military personnel meet the requirements, with 75-85% of them getting  distinctions and credits . All  of those have contributed to firmly defending the Homeland’s sea and island sovereignty and to maintaining a peaceful environment for national development.

Rear Admiral  Mai Trong Dinh, Political Commissar of Naval Zone 3