Due to global climate change, in recent years, natural disasters and epidemics across the country in general, within Military Region 5 in particular have had extremely complex developments. Storms, floods, and landslides have taken place continuously, causing severe human and material losses for our State, socio-economic organisations, and citizens. More seriously, since 2020, COVID-19 pandemic has been negatively impacting on all aspects of our social life. Besides, hostile forces and political opportunists have been stepping up their sabotage strategy against our Party and State; they have always strived to undermine our national great unity block, demanded the so-called De Ga independent State, and promoted “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and “depoliticisation” of our Military. All of those things have profoundly impacted on our troops and people’s thought, sentiment, and health as well as our socio-economic, cultural development and defence-security consolidation. Being fully aware of this, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have drastically, synchronously taken measures to improve the armed forces’ combat readiness capacity, promote their core, vanguard role, and cooperate with local party committees, authorities, and citizens in opportunely, effectively responding to non-traditional security challenges. 

First of all, grasp directives, resolutions, and guiding documents by the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on responding to non-traditional security challenges. Over the years, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have always focused on raising the armed forces’ combat readiness capacity, effectively, opportunely responding to non-traditional security challenges, particularly during epidemic prevention and control, alleviating the consequences of natural disasters, and conducting search and rescue operations as a central task and a “combat mission in peacetime.” Besides, the Military Region has directed its competent offices to develop and issue guiding documents for units and localities to formulate their own action plans and projects.

Grounded on the National Defence Strategy, the Military Strategy, and the Government’s Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP, dated February 22nd, 2019 on building defensive zones, the Military Region’s Party Committee has designed Resolution 09-NQ/ĐU, dated June 11^th, 2021 on leadership over the building of the Military Region’s defence and provincial-level defensive zones in the new situation. In the time to come, the Military Region will concentrate on directing its offices and units to cooperate with local party committees and authorities in reviewing, adjusting, and supplementing socio-economic development projects in line with building and consolidating the Military Region’s defensive posture and provincial-level defensive zones. Due attention will be paid to perfecting combat documents and plans, stringently maintaining combat readiness, and collaborating with forces within defensive zones in researching and anticipating situations and sufficiently preparing personnel and means to respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges.

Commander of the Military Region addressing the conference on implement the task of COVID-19 prevention and control

Second, strengthen the work of propagation and education to improve cadres and soldiers’ vigilance, political zeal, and determination to undertake and successfully fulfil their task. This is a fundamental measure aimed at raising the synergy and combat power of the armed forces and making them capable of effectively responding to possible situations, including non-traditional security challenges. Therefore, the Military Region’s armed forces have always heightened the spirit of “sacrificing for the people” and surmounted all difficulties to help the people with natural disaster prevention and control and search and rescue and play a core role in keeping the COVID-19 pandemic under control. Bringing into play those good results, in the upcoming time, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command will focus on directing offices, units, and localities to render forces and citizens fully aware of non-traditional security challenges’ characteristics and impacts and work towards measures to promote the synergy in preventing and responding to such challenges. Offices, units, and localities will be required to flexibly, creatively apply forms and methods of propagation and education. Consideration will be given to strictly maintaining regulations for reports on non-traditional security challenge prevention and combat.

In addition to the work of propagation and education, offices and units shall intensify measures to grasp and manage their cadres and soldiers’ ideology and improve their staff members’ material and mental life as the basis for achieving a consensus and building up their troops’ determination to overcome difficulties and hardships in the performance of this important task.

Third, grasp and anticipate situations, develop plans and projects in accordance with each area’s particularities, and sufficiently prepare human and material resources for timely, effective response. Due to their natural particularities, weather and climate of the Central Coast and the Central Highlands are extreme harsh; storms, tornadoes, droughts, and coastal erosion have been increasingly complicated and erratic. For the sake of timely, effective response, the Military Region has directed offices, units, and localities to frequently consolidate all-level Commands on natural disaster prevention and control - search and rescue, proactively carry out preparatory work, stringently maintain duty regulations, and give advice on dealing with situations. Provincial-level military commands have been asked to advise provincial-level Commands on natural disaster prevention and control - search and rescue to direct provincial-level departments and sectors to review and complete their Plans for responding to 12 natural disasters and incidents under Prime Minister’s Decision 1041/QĐ-TTg and the Government’s Decree 30/2017/NĐ-CP. Great value has been attached to designing an Action Plan for Prime Minister’s Decision 379/QĐ-TTg, dated March 17th, 20201 on approving the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control towards 2030, with a vision towards 2050 in a highly feasible manner. Consideration has been given to well implementing mechanisms of leadership, direction, and operation under “four-on-the-spot” motto, actively sufficiently preparing materials, forces, and means, and maintaining readiness for effectively responding to non-traditional security challenges.

Immediately after the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Vietnam, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have seriously grasped leadership of the CMC and the MND and higher echelons’ documents and directives, while concentrating on directing offices, units, and localities to assess and anticipate situations, develop plans, and prepare projects, personnel, means, and facilities in each degree, and adjust plans for military-defence work to simultaneously ensure training, combat readiness, and pandemic control. In response to each COVID-19 situation, the Military Region’s armed forces have grasped the developments of the pandemic and cooperated with local party committees and authorities in drastically adopting measures to localise the pandemic, track infections, supply food, and organise quarantine zones for citizens. In the upcoming time, the pandemic will be still complex. In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the Military Region will closely cooperate with localities in stepping up vaccination campaign, organising community-based medical teams, and actively localising and tracking infections to both effectively fight against the pandemic and boost socio-economic development.

Fourth, well organise training courses and exercises to readily, opportunely, effectively respond to situations. Responding to non-traditional security challenges is the Military’s “combat mission in peacetime.” To well perform this mission, the Military Region has directed its offices and units to improve the quality of training and exercises. In this regard, due attention has been paid to bettering forces’ capabilities in dealing with natural disasters and epidemics as well as conducting search and rescue operations. Emphasis has been placed on providing intensive training courses for military medical teams and improving technical employees’ skills in using search and rescue vehicles and preventing and combating fires and explosions. It should be noted that in addition to defensive zone exercises, localities within the Military Region have flexibly organised exercises on martial law and natural disaster, fire, and explosion prevention and control as well as search and rescue in order to improve party committees and authorities’ command and leadership capability and forces’ political zeal, determination, and capacity to employ means and equipment. As a result, when a serious landslide occurred in Dak Mi 2 Hydroelectric Plant (Phuoc Son district, Quang Nam province in 2020), the Military Region’s armed forces quickly evacuated 1,919 citizens from 533 households and their assets to safe places and rescued 211 workers from the isolated area. They also saved 38 workers who were constructing a dam across Tra Khuc River (Quang Ngai province). Bringing into play those good results, in the upcoming time, the Military Region will direct offices, units, and localities to attach importance to organising exercises according to the approved projects, particularly on preventing and combating severe natural disasters and epidemics, such as super typhoon, heavy rain and flood, landslide, earthquake, and tsunami so as to improve their task performance. Due regard will be paid to applying scientific and technological advances, modernising training models, closely combining basic training with employment of information technology to perform this task.

Moreover, the Military Region will take advantage of military networks to serve staff work and exercise its direction, while giving instructions on adjusting electronic and cyber space reconnaissance missions in accordance with its affiliates’ practical conditions to grasp its stationed area. Significance will be attached to carrying out mass mobilisation work and closely cooperating with local party committees and authorities in raising the quality of political bases, consolidating the national great unity block, and building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” to create the synergy for opportunely, effectively responding to non-traditional security challenges and making contributions to successfully fulfilling the task of national construction and protection.

Lt. Gen. THAI DAI NGOC, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC, Commander of the Military Region