Protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands represents a central, routine task of the entire Party, Military, people, and political system, with fishermen playing a role of utmost importance. Thus, in addition to training and combat readiness, Naval Region 2 has attached great value to building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea via various measures, contributing to safeguarding national sovereignty over the Fatherland’s Southern sea, islands, and continental shelf.

Naval Region 2 is tasked with protecting the sea and islands from Ba Kiem cape (Binh Thuan province) to Ganh Hao estuary (Bac Lieu province), including 7 Southern coastal provinces, DK1 Platform’s shoal area, and the exclusive economic zone delimited by the boundary line between Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. This is a strategic sea in defence, security, and economic terms. Grasping the particularities of its area of responsibility and task requirements, the viewpoint of “taking the people as the root”, as well as lines and policies set by the Party, State, Central Military Commission, Ministry of National Defence, and especially Naval Service on protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands, the Region has formulated a lot of specific, practical, effective measures and models in the building of a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea.

Providing food for fishermen at sea

Grounded on the coordination program between the Navy’s Party Committee and relevant provincial-level party committees, the Region’s Party Committee and Command have proactively worked with Information and Education Commissions, Sub-Departments of Fisheries, Border Guards, and military agencies within coastal provinces and municipalities to design and execute propagation plans aimed at raising fishermen’s awareness and sense of responsibility towards fishing regulations and sea and island protection. While propagating the role of seas and islands in the cause of Fatherland construction and protection, the tasks of the Navy and the Region itself, the situation at sea, and our Party and State’s viewpoints and lines on protecting seas and islands, the Region has focused on identifying topics of propagation relevant to events, realities at sea, and tasks in each period.

Offices and units across the Region have flexibly employed diverse forms and methods of propagation, designing and distributing materials, organising visits to exhibitions, holding propagation conferences, combining propagation work with policy work and mass mobilisation work, deploying propagation teams to fishing vessels at anchorage points or at sea, visiting and giving presents to fishermen. To make propagation more comprehensible, the Region has combined oral propagation with presentation, including slides, films, and news videos, distribution of leaflets, news briefing, and provision of images in accordance with target individuals and each locality. Offices and units of the Region and local competent agencies have maintained coordination to provide information, design and release materials, and organise many large-scale propagation programs for cadres, soldiers, and citizens. Besides, the Region has closely cooperated with localities in implementing policies to foster marine economic development and provide support for fishermen at sea. Offices and units of the Region have actively taken part in new-style rural area construction and sustainable poverty reduction in tandem with movements and programs, such as “paying debt of gratitude”, “Vietnam People’s Navy acts as a fulcrum for fishermen to reach out to the sea”, “the Navy sponsors fishermen’s children”, while well performing policy work. In addition to conducting guard and patrol, forces of the Region have protected fishermen’s fishing grounds, legal activities, life, and assets, opportunely carrying out search and rescue operations in support of fishermen, providing fuel, food, and medicine for fishermen in need, thus creating a favourable condition for fishermen to keep their mind on their work at sea. At the same time, forces of the Region have given instructions on the boundaries and overlapping areas of the seas as well as on safe, sustainable, lawful fishing activities to fishermen and encouraged them not to violate foreign waters. Units of the Region have frequently grasped situational developments in adjacent seas, opportunely detecting and driving away thousands of foreign vessels with illegal fishing within Vietnam’s waters, protecting our fishermen’s traditional fishing grounds. Doing so has helped cement fishermen’s faith in the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies as well as in the fulcrum from “Naval Soldiers”, improve fishermen’s living conditions, and encourage fishermen to actively take part in protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Giving first aid to a fisherman at sea

In the upcoming time, the East Sea in general, the sea of Naval Region 2’s responsibility in particular will be faced with complex challenges; meanwhile, fishermen’s life will be still in difficulty. To create synergy for protecting national sacred sovereignty over seas and islands, the Region will continue to adopt synchronised measures to build an increasingly firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea.

First of all, the Region will collaborate with local sectors and unions to step up propagation and education to create political - spiritual strength for national sovereignty and security protection. Emphasis will be placed on grasping and disseminating the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies on sea and island protection, regulations on marine resource and environment protection, the importance of seas and islands in Fatherland construction and protection, the Law of the Sea of Vietnam, regulations on fisheries, historical evidence about Vietnam’s sovereignty over the two archipelagos of Truong Sa and Hoang Sa, political security situation within seas and on islands, the role of the Vietnam People’s Navy in the struggle for protecting seas and islands, and traditions of the Navy and the Region. Great value will be attached to the fundamentals of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), agreements on the delimitation of the sea, the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, the Strategy for the sustainable development of Vietnam’s marine economy towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045, the Fisheries Law (2017), a number of urgent tasks and measures to deal with the European Commission’s warning about “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing” (IUU) as well as relevant documents for guiding fishermen’s legal fishing activities. Moreover, due attention will be paid to clarifying the importance and content of “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea and unmasking hostile forces’ plots and artifices of taking advantage of issues on seas, islands, ethnicity, and religion against the Vietnamese revolution. To achieve effectiveness, the Region will renew forms and methods of propagation, promote the role of forces, organisations, and mass media, and closely combine regular education and propagation with topics-based education and propagation relevant to local particularities and customs. Doing so will enable local party committees, authorities, and people in sea and island areas to understand that managing and protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands constitute a central, routine task of the whole Party, Military, people, and political system; it will also help stimulate patriotism, national great unity, consensus, and resolve to surmount all difficulties and firmly protect national sovereignty and security at sea among all people.

Furthermore, the Region will actively participate in fostering socio-economic development and improving the people’s life within sea and island areas as a basic, long-term measure and a solid foundation for the building of a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea. To that end, it will continue to work with local party committees, authorities, and sectors to effectively implement socio-economic development programs within sea and island areas, such as animal and crop husbandry. In the process, programs on social welfare, poverty reduction, and improvement of people’s intellectual standard will be aligned with the current movements, campaigns, and programs. The Region will collaborate with other forces in conducting search and rescue for fishermen and their vessels at sea, repairing and towing fishing vessels in distress back to the land, thereby creating a favourable condition for the people to reach out to the sea, making the people “no longer void of food, literacy, medicine, or information”, gradually improving the people’s mental and material life in its stationed areas, maintaining political stability and fostering socio-economic development within sea and island areas, building a new cultural life, encouraging the people to take part in the fight against social evils for the sake of political security, social order and safety, and strong, safe stationed areas, spreading the noble image of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers - Naval Soldiers” in the new period.

A part from those above-mentioned measures, the Region’s Party Committee and Command will continue to lead and direct offices and units to maintain coordination in preparing and organising visits with the participation of delegates from ministries, sectors, localities, press agencies, businesses, and social organisations to Truong Sa Islands, DK1 Platform, and Southwestern islands in order to raise public awareness and a sense of responsibility towards the Fatherland’s seas and islands. At the same time, the Region will well organise “paying debt of gratitude” activities, take care of families under preferential treatment policy, sick soldiers, war invalids, and families in extreme difficulty within its stationed areas, provide free medical examination and medicine for the people, and pay tribute to martyrs on national holidays, with a view to laying a solid political - spiritual foundation in “the people’s hearts and minds”.

Efforts made by cadres and soldiers of Naval Region 2 to accompany fishermen at sea have been contributing to building an increasingly firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”. That will not only serve as a fulcrum for fishermen to reach out to the sea, but also help consolidate military - civilian solidarity and promote fishermen’s role in safeguarding national sacred sovereignty over seas and islands.

Sr. Col. PHAM NGOC QUY

Director of the Region’s Political Department