Long Bien district is the northeastern gateway of the capital city, with high population density, rapid urbanisation, and a large number of key constructions and industrial zones of Hanoi. Being fully aware of the area’s particularities and grasping the Party’s guidelines on the Homeland protection in the new period, over the years, in addition to socio-economic development, the district has attached importance to implementing measures to improve the performance of military-defence work in line with safe, flexible adaptation to and effective control over COVID-19 pandemic, thus earning a lot of significant results.
Notably, the district has proactively designed and promulgated documents on leading, directing, and performing military-defence task. Due regard has been paid to providing defence and security education for all citizens, practically, effectively renewing the selection and recruitment of citizens to the Military, closely combining socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation, and well organising training courses, defensive zone exercises, and defensive combat drills at all levels. As a result, the district armed forces’ synergy and combat power have been unceasingly improved to be capable of opportunely, effectively dealing with incidents, maintaining political security, and ensuring social order and safety as an important contribution to the district’s rapid, sustainable development. From the performance of its military-defence task, the district has drawn several lessons which have also been effectively applied in practice as follows.
First of all, the district has strengthened all-level party committees and authorities’ leadership and direction over military-defence task. Grasping resolutions and directives by the Party, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence, under the leadership and direction from the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Committee, and the Capital Military Command, the District Party Committee and the District People’s Committee have opportunely issued resolutions, directives, and plans for military-defence work in accordance with COVID-19 prevention and control. At the same time, great value has been attached to bettering all-level party committees and authorities’ leadership and management efficiency towards military-defence work. Due attention has been paid to sufficiently staffing the district’s Military Service Council, Defence and Security Education Council, Defensive Zone Supply Council, and People’s Air Defence Steering Board. Besides, the district has proactively developed and effectively executed action plans and programmes for resolutions and directives of the Party Central Committee, the Central Military Commission, the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Council, and the Municipal People’s Committee on military-defence task, with a focus on the Municipal Party Committee’s Programme 09-CTr/TU, dated March 17th, 2021 on “increasing defence-security potential, maintaining political security and social order and safety within the capital city between 2021 and 2025.” Doing so has allowed the district to make a huge change in its military-defence work, fulfil the “dual goals” of socio-economic development and pandemic prevention and control, maintain social stability, and ensure the people’s life.
Due to its rapid urbanisation and infrastructural development together with many construction projects and industrial zones, the district has directed all-level competent offices, party committees, and authorities to closely review and appraise socio-economic development projects so that they would not affect defence-security task and the building of the defensive zone. At the same time, the district has required its offices, sectors, and localities to closely combine economic development with defence-security consolidation to ensure that socio-economic development must always foster defence-security potential and strength and vice versa. Moreover, the district has implemented dual-purpose projects and constructions, while aligning the development of urban traffic infrastructures with the building of defensive works and roads for defence-security task in the event.
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| An exercise on the mobilisation of the reserve force by the district |
Second, the district has promoted the core role of its armed forces in performing military-defence work. This is an important measure aimed at creating an incentive for successfully fulfilling military-defence task. Therefore, while stepping up the fulfilment of socio-economic targets, the district has focused on measures to build “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong armed forces and keep raising their synergy and combat power so that they would be capable of playing a core role in performing military-defence task. Due attention has been paid to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern standing force, consolidating its organisational structure, raising the quality of its training work, improving its task performance, and promoting its core role in counselling, coordinating, guiding, and implementing military-defence work. The district has directed the building of a powerful reserve force, with a focus on closely managing this force and frequently examining and re-examining mobilisation readiness. The district has concentrated on building a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force, developing this force both qualitatively and quantitatively, and especially raising this force’s political quality to satisfy the requirements set by defence-security task at grass-roots level.
Moreover, the district has directed all-level military offices to actively renew training work for all forces. Significance has been attached to bettering grass-roots level cadres’ training capacity, increasing practical and night-time training, combining combat training with training courses on natural disaster mitigation, search and rescue, particularly bomb and mine clearance in the Red River, and COVID-19 prevention and control. During defensive zone exercises and defensive combat drills, the district has attached great value to designing situations relevant to reality, with the mobilisation of a large number of members of the militia and self-defence force in order to improve coordination between localities and forces, especially between the Military and the Public Security Force in settling defence-security issues within the district itself. It is worth noting that the District Military Office has advised party committees and authorities to build and operate 2 large-scale quarantine zones and 1 centre for receiving and treating COVID-19 patients.
Third, the district has stepped up defence and security education for cadres and all citizens. There is a fact that well providing defence and security education for cadres, party members, citizens, and the armed forces will help raise their awareness and responsibility towards the Homeland construction and protection. Thus, the district has focused its leadership and direction on effectively performing this work to contribute to making the all-people national defence and the posture of all-people national defence increasingly strong. Grounded on higher echelons’ documents and directives, the district has directed its Defence and Security Education Council to proactively develop yearly plans of education with specific targets and requirements and carry out surveys on the number of learners from its offices, units, and localities as the basis for launching training courses.
Focuses of defence and security education courses have been placed on the Party’s military-defence guidelines, the State’s laws and policies, the building of the all-people national defence and the people’s security, hostile forces’ plots and artifices, legal normative documents (the Law on the Militia and Self-Defence Force, the Military Service Law, and the National Defence Law), and higher echelons’ resolutions, directives, and guiding documents on defence-security work. The district has directed its Defence and Security Education Council to both organise regular training courses and include defence and security education in cultural, sports, and exchange programmes of politico-social organisations and unions. Due attention has been paid to bringing into play the role of radio systems in commending and disseminating typical examples in the performance of defence-security task. As a result, all citizens’ awareness and responsibility towards defence-security task have been considerably improved, and the people’s faith in party committees, authorities, and the Homeland construction and protection has been cemented to contribute to building an increasingly firm posture of all-people national defence within the district.
Fourth, the district has boosted the quality of selecting and recruiting citizens to the Military and well implemented policies for the Military’s Rear. To do so, the district has directed its wards and all-level military offices, particularly its Military Service Council to closely, publicly, democratically conduct the registration and management of citizens at military service age and adhere to regulations on conscription work. Significance has been attached to cooperating with the district’s Fatherland Front and unions in disseminating the Military Service Law amongst the people, especially citizens at military service age. Thanks to that approach, over the years, the district has always fulfilled military enlistment work. Since 2015, the district has always reached all targets of military recruitment; it has selected and enlisted more than 600 citizens into the Military with the increasingly high quality (30% of them have graduated from universities, colleges, or vocational colleges), being highly appreciated by troop-receiving units and the Municipal Military Command of Hanoi.
Besides, the district has directed its offices, units, localities to effectively implement policies for the Military’s Rear. Due attention has been paid to ensuring sufficient entitlements and policies for beneficiaries, taking care of Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, constructing houses of charity, and visiting and giving presents to citizens under preferential treatment policies on national holidays. It should be noted that in response to negative impacts made by COVID-19 pandemic, the district has organised zero-dong booths and provided financial assistance for reservists, active duty soldiers, and citizens in difficulty. Doing so has contributed to improving beneficiaries’ material and mental life and cementing the people’s faith in all-level party committees and authorities as the basis for the raised quality of military-defence work.
NGUYEN MANH HA, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee
Chairman of the District People’s Committee