Fully aware of the assigned function and task as well as the area’s strategic position, Ho Chi Minh City’s Border Guard has always strived to overcome difficulties and really played the core role in managing and defending the sea border sovereignty and security.

Ho Chi Minh City holds a position of utmost importance in political, economic, social, defence, security, and diplomacy terms to the South and the whole country. The city has a coastline of 23.5km and a sea of 1,755km², which are favourable for fishing and domestic, international commerce. The city’s system of sea ports includes 44 ports, 88 docks, and 84 pairs of harbours for ships to dock in the rivers of Sai Gon, Nha Be, Soai Rap, Long Tau, and Dong Nai. The city has 32 companies and hundreds of offices and agencies for nautical services with nearly 8,000 cadres, employees and workers. Annually, hundreds of cruise and military ships and tens of thousands of tourists enter and exit the city while tens of millions of tons of goods are exported and imported at the city’s ports. This is a favourable condition for the city to develop its economy, accelerate industrialization and modernization, and improve its people’s material and mental life.

Patrolling the gate of Ho Chi Minh sea port

However, the city is confronted with difficulties in managing and protecting sovereignty, political security and social order, particularly in the port areas. Hostile forces always see the city as a central area to implement their “peaceful evolution” strategy, enhance “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, taking advantage of commercial activities to conduct intelligence operations, disseminate hostile documents and evil cultural products. Moreover, there is an increase in crime of all types, particularly drug trafficking, smuggling, trade fraud with complicated developments and cunning tricks. Thus, managing and defending sea border sovereignty and security in the city’s area is a matter of urgency. To do so, in addition to promoting the synergy of sectors and forces in the area, the Municipal Border Guard (MBG) must continue to encourage its core role, closely cooperate with relevant forces and synchronously take measures to successfully perform the task, with a focus on the following points.

First, regularly conducting the work of education and propagation to raise the awareness of cadres, soldiers and people towards the task of managing and protecting the sea border sovereignty and security, particularly in port gates in the area. This is an important element which decides the performance of the political task of the MBG. Accordingly, offices and units have stepped up the work of political education to render cadres and troops fully aware of the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policies on the military-defence task in general, the border defence work in particular. Focuses of education have been placed on the Resolution of the 11^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy to defend the Homeland in the new situation, the Resolution of the 12^th National Party Congress as well as directives and resolutions by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on the management and protection of border sovereignty and security. At the same time, due attention has been paid to propagating and disseminating basic points of the National Border Law, the Law of the Sea of Vietnam, the Government’s Decree 77/2017/NĐ-CP on managing security and order at port gates as well as hostile forces’ plots and artifices, particularly their new, non-traditional ones. Those have contributed to raising cadres, troops and people’s awareness, building up their political stuff, maintaining their vigilance, and creating the synergy to perform the task of managing and protecting the sea border sovereignty and security. In the current situation, the negative side of the market economy, material temptation, and hostile distortions have caused difficulties for the work of propagation and education. Against that backdrop, the MBG’s Party Committee and Command have asked offices and units to promote the role of organizations, forces, mass media, and cultural institutions; to combine basic education program with special topics in accord with realities and each group of objects. It is worth noting that grasping the area’s particularities, the MBG has made plans for direct talks with ship owners, groups of fishing vessels, islanders, and people living and working in port areas about the observance of law and the participation in security and order protection. This is a creative approach which should be promoted in the upcoming time.

Second, actively advising party committees and authorities at all levels on making the all-people border defence. Grasping, correctly forecasting and evaluating the situation, the MBG’s Party Committee and Command have counselled the Border Guard Party Committee and High Command as well as the Municipal Party Committee and Authority to comprehensively lead the work of border defence with emphasis placed on taking measures to defend the city’s sea border and port gate sovereignty and security. At the same time, the MBG has actively cooperated with municipal departments, committees and sectors in building and completing mechanisms and policies, supplementing and adjusting plans/programs related to the border defence work. Typical examples have been the programs/plans to implement the Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg on “Organizing the movement for all people to take part in the protection of national border sovereignty and security in the new situation” as well as the Project on “Building the revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern MBG until 2020 and beyond”. In addition, the MBG has actively encouraged the masses to implement the “All-people border defence day” while effectively carrying out the movement for all people to take part in protecting the Homeland security and each port and sea’s security and order. Up to now, in the city’s residential coast areas, the MBG has built 23 groups of security self-control and 20 self-control wharves. That has proved the MBG’s great contribution to consolidating the posture of “people’s hearts and minds”, raising the people’s awareness and responsibility towards the border defence work, and building solid all-people border defence.

Third, actively taking part in socio-economic development and people’s life stabilization and improvement. The MBG has considered this as a basic, durable measure to build strong all-people border defence. Over the past years, the MBG has well played its role in giving advice to local party committees and authorities and closely cooperated with socio-political organizations, such as the Fatherland Front, Peasants’ Association, Youth Union, Women’s Union in boosting programs to facilitate socio-economic development, improve people’s intellectual and living standards, take care of public health, and build new cultural lifestyle. At the same time, it has successfully, effectively conducted the work of mass mobilization, movements and campaigns, such as “Homes for the poor in border, sea and island areas”, “The Border Guard Force joins hand in building new-style rural area”, “The Border Guard Force joins hand for the poor – No one left behind”, “Supporting children’s schooling”, “Let’s keep the sea clean”, while promoting its core role in natural disaster and climate change prevention and control, and search and rescue. As a result, those have contributed to shifting the economic structure, rapidly developing ecotourism, fishing and aquaculture, and facilitating rapid and sustainable economic development.

Fourth, improving the quality of the work of border gate, accelerating administrative reform, and implementing sea port border defence electronic procedures. This has been seen as a breakthrough in the task of managing and defending the sea border sovereignty and security. The MBG’s offices and units have focused on building the force in charge of the border gate work on a “compact, professional” basis. Those who have been selected for this work have political steadfastness, professional competence, good command of foreign languages and information technology, and exemplary working method while equipment for this work have been modernized to meet the task requirements. Recently, the MBG Command has actively reviewed the list of administrative procedures, organized training courses for cadres to use the electronic profile declaration software at the national one-door portal under the Government’s Decree 58/2017/NĐ-CP, and strictly followed the Plan 391/KH-BTL by the Border Guard High Command on administrative reform in 2018. So far, all enterprises and agencies have received their accounts to access the portal, and all of them have declared their profiles for electronic border defence procedures during immigration operations. Those efforts have really made new progress in immigration and contributed to saving time and money of enterprises. Consequently, the MBG’s quality of border gate work has considerably improved.

Fifth, further cooperating with other forces in maintaining combat readiness, managing and protecting sea border and port gate sovereignty and security. The MBG Command has cooperated with the Municipal Military Command, Naval Zone 2’s Command, and Coast Guard Zone 3’s Command in exchanging and providing information, conducting joint patrols, maintaining readiness for protecting sea and island sovereignty, taking part in defensive zone exercises, fire and explosion prevention and control, search and rescue in river and sea. It has cooperated with the Municipal Public Security in effectively implementing the Government’s Decree 77/2010/NĐ-CP and in managing the area, preventing and combating crime, safeguarding sea border security and social order in the area. From the beginning of 2018 to September, the MBG has discovered and settled 312 cases, captured 137 means, 3,370.733 grams of meth, and many other evidences. Those results have proved the MBG’s core role in managing and defending the sea border sovereignty and security, making contributions to the cause of national defence.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Duy Thang, Commissar of the MBG