Saturday, April 18, 2020, 09:58 (GMT+7)
Lai Chau Province focuses on building comprehensively strong armed forces

Thoroughly grasping resolutions and directives by the Central Military Committee, the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Region 2’s Party Committee and Command on building the people’s armed forces, the Provincial Military Party Committee (PMPC) of Lai Chau has paid attention to issuing comprehensive and practical solutions to improve the overall quality and fighting strength of the provincial armed forces, making sure that they are eligible to successfully fulfill all defense-military missions.

Leader of the Provincial Military Command visiting and encouraging new soldiers and cadres

First of all, importance has been attached to making the armed forces strong politically, ensuring that they would provide a firm foundation for the local party committees, authorities and people. Thoroughly understanding the situation of a mountainous and border locality, the PMPC has directed junior party committees and commanders at all levels to seriously grasp and implement resolutions and guiding documents on political and ideological education, renew content, forms and methodology of education, and especially execute the Plan on “renewing political education at units in the new period.”

At the same time, emphasis has been placed on grasping and orienting troops’ thinking, upholding vigilance, actively preventing, effectively fighting against, and defeating the "peaceful evolution" strategy by hostile forces and their tricks of "self-evolution" and "self-transformation," stepping up the determination to win emulation movement in association with the 12th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the campaign on promoting tradition, devoting talent, and deserving “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new time, and enhancing the work of internal political protection, particularly in key units and agencies so as to thwart the hostile forces’ plots and artifices of sabotage, protect military and national classified information, and build safe units and areas. As a result, all officers and soldiers have always shown their firm political stance, high determination and willingness to receive and successfully complete all tasks even in difficult circumstance, fostered a close-knit bond with the people in remote and isolated areas and acted as the core force in maintaining political security, social order and safety in the area.

Moreover, attention has been paid to building firm party organizations and a contingent of cadres and party members, making them capable of performing the core role in leading units to fulfill all tasks. The PMPC has ordered party organizations at all levels to grasp and strictly implement resolutions, directives and regulations on the party building, particularly the Directive 22-NQ/TW, dated Feb 02, 2008 by the 10th Party Central Committee on “enhancing the leadership and fighting strength of party organizations and the quality of cadres and party members.” Grounded on those documents, great value has been attached to consolidating party committees and organizations, upholding the spirit of self-criticism and criticism, creating a strong and firm change in the leadership and fighting strength of party committees and organizations, especially at grass-roots level, regularly maintaining the order for party meetings and the principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership, and individual accountability, and creating a sense of unity.  Due regard has been paid to elaborating and strictly implementing regulations on pieces of key work, such as the personnel work, military planning and investment, basic construction, and financial work. At the same time, emphasis has been placed strengthening the work of inspection and supervision, taking the Party's disciplinary action, and training a contingent of cadres and party members. The provincial armed forces has regularly and seriously implemented the 12th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification and the Regulation on things that party members are not allowed to do, thereby raising the awareness and responsibility of cadres and party members, promptly preventing manifestations of degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as negative phenomena, corruption, and waste. The personnel assessment and appointment work has been carried out in accordance with the principles, procedures, and plans, ensuring objectivity and democracy. In this regard, importance has been attached to rotating job titles, creating favorable conditions for cadres to gain hands-on experiences, selecting and including young cadres with good quality and capability in the personnel planning to ensure solid development and inheritance.

In order that the provincial armed forces would fulfill all assigned tasks, the PMPC has paid attention to enhancing the quality of training, combat readiness, and military standard order. Considering it a key political task, it has directed party committees and organizations at all levels to thoroughly grasp resolutions and directives, especially the Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW by the Military Central Committee and the Resolution by the Military Region’s Party Committee Standing Board on improving training quality for the period of 2013-2020 and the following years, and issue specialized resolutions on training in accordance with characteristics and tasks of each agency and unit. The Provincial Military Command has required units to elaborately prepare training models, tools, grounds, plans, and lectures and organize refresher courses for their instructors prior to each training season. In the training process, the motto of "basic, practical, solid, synchronized, and intensive" training has been strictly followed in association with the characteristics, tasks, personnel, organization and fighting tactics of local soldiers in the forest, mountain, and border areas. Priority has been given to night training and physical training. At the same time, importance has been attached to cooperating with local agencies and authorities in holding national defense and security education courses for different groups of learners, including the reserve force.

For the militia and self-defense force and the reserve force, the Provincial Military Command has required agencies and units to strictly conduct the work of personnel registration and management, provide training courses for these forces under the prescribed training programs and plans, enhancing technical and tactical training, and organizing exercises on responding to natural disasters, such as floods, storms, and forest fires as well as search and rescue drills. Therefore, they have promoted their role in practical activities, assisting the people in production, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, making contributions to firmly maintaining political security and social order and safety in the area. In addition, the Provincial Military Command has successfully fulfilled its role in giving advice to local party committee and administrations and cooperated with other forces, departments, branches, and agencies in organizing provincial and district-level defensive zone exercises and natural disaster prevention and control drills. In the last 10 years (2009-2019), it successfully conducted 2 provincial defensive zone exercises, 16 district-level defensive zone exercises, and hundreds of other types of exercises and drills.

In order to improve the combat readiness capability, the Provincial Military Command has directed units to strictly maintain the regulations on combat readiness, especially within the mobile task forces and practice different fighting scenarios to avoid passive and unexpected situations. At the same time, attention has been paid to improving the quality of military standard order and discipline management, strengthening the work of troop management, and raising troops’ awareness of actively obeying the State laws, the Military discipline, and regulations of units. As a result, the observance of law and discipline by officers and soldiers of the provincial armed forces has witnessed positive improvements, there has been no serious incident and the rate of common disciplinary violations has fallen below 0.15%.

In leadership over the construction of the armed forces, the PMPC has focused on the policies for the Army and its rear. The Provincial Military Command has cooperated with the Provincial Health Department, the Provincial Red Cross Society, the Military Hospital 109 and local agencies and departments in successfully implementing the combined military and civilian health program and providing free medical examination and treatment for the ethnic minority people and those living in remote and border areas. Since 2009, the provincial armed forces have cooperated with local agencies and departments in organizing medical examination and treatment sessions and providing free medicine for 12,500 people. At the same time, it has directed local military agencies to implement the preferential treatment policies for former soldiers participating in the anti-American resistance war with less than 20 years of service, soldiers participating in the border protection wars and international missions, and conscripted laborers in the resistance wars, step up the activities of “paying debts of gratitude”, visit and present gifts to war invalids, martyrs' families and families with meritorious services to the revolution on holidays and Lunar New Year. In addition, the PMPC has directed agencies and units of the provincial armed forces to cooperate with agencies and units stationed in the province and local party committees and authorities in ensuring social insurance policies, health insurance for relatives of soldiers and officers, and policies for soldiers and officers who have life-threatening diseases or undergo fertility treatment.

To meet the requirements set by the new tasks, the PMPC will continue exercising leadership over the building of strong armed forces, making them capable of playing the core role in performing the military and defense work and building a firm provincial defensive zone as the basis for preserving and defending the national sovereignty and border in the Northwest region of the Homeland, facilitating fast and sustainable socio-economic development.

Sr. Col. Thao A Pinh, the Provincial Military Command Commissar

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