The Provincial Border Guard (PBG) of Ha Giang is tasked with managing 277.556 km of borderlines between the province and two Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi. This is a heavy task as the province’s border area includes 7 districts with 32 communes, 2 townships, and a population of over 113,000. The Mong people account for 61, 88% of the population. Moreover, due to the area’s rough terrain, the traffic system here is very poor. There are differences in the people’s educational backgrounds. Many depraved customs still exist. The rate of poor and near-poor households is high. Crimes of various types, free migration, and illegal immigration are complex. Against such a backdrop, the PBG has promoted its core role and encouraged the participation of the entire political system and people in managing and protecting national sovereignty and border security, making the border area comprehensively strong, and building a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development together with China’s localities.

To reach those targets, first of all, the PBG has given sound advice to the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee on managing and defending the border. Grasping and executing higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on border defence work, particularly the 12th Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW on the National Border Protection Strategy, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have helped the Provincial Party Committee to develop action plans/programmes for this important Strategy. At the same time, they have proposed measures to deal with issues on building the all-people border defence and the posture of all-people border defence associated with the people’s security and the posture of people’s security within the border area. Importance has been attached to advising local party committees and authorities on building a strong all-people border defence in terms of potential, force, and posture as the basis for maintaining politico-social stability, boosting economic development, consolidating defence and security, and fostering diplomatic ties within the border area. Doing so has contributed to successfully implementing the National Border Protection Strategy in the new situation.

In order to bring into play synergy created by the whole political system and people in protecting national sovereignty and border security, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units, particularly border guard posts to closely cooperate with all-level party committees and authorities in disseminating and realising directives and resolutions by the Party and the State on building and safeguarding the border. Due attention has been paid to introducing the Project on “strengthening legal dissemination and education for citizens in border areas in the period of 2020-2025,” the National Border Law, and 3 border-related documents, namely the Agreement on border management regulations, the Agreement on border gates, and the Regulations on border gate management between Vietnam and China, combating hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and identifying violations of territorial sovereignty, national benefits, and social safety. Doing so has helped raise the awareness and responsibility of party committees, authorities, and especially ethnic minority citizens towards the sacredness and inviolability of the national sovereignty and border and render each individual and organisation fully aware of their task of managing and protecting the national border in cooperation with the Border Guard Force (BGF).

Supporting children’s schooling

Moreover, the PBG has actively taken part in building political bases, fostering socio-economic development, and improving the people’s material and mental life in the border area. Under leadership and direction from the BGF’s Party Committee and Command and Ha Giang’s Provincial Party Committee and Provincial People’s Committee, the PBG has designed and strictly executed Regulations on coordination between the PBG’s Party Committee and 7 border districts’ party committees as well as between border guard posts’ party committees and border communes’ party committees. The Regulations on coordination have enabled the PBG to grasp the situation from the two sides of the border and work towards many measures for managing the border, preventing and combating crime, consolidating the political system at grass-roots level, and opportunely, effectively settling issues along the border. Since 2013, the PBG has recommended localities to appoint 34 cadres of border guard posts to commune-level party committees, while deploying 145 cadres and party members to attend village-level party cells’ meetings and assigning 353 party members to provide assistance for 1,653 households in the border area, thereby significantly contributing to improving local party committees and authorities’ leadership and management.

It should be noted that under the BGF Command’s Plan 3961/KH-BTL, dated October 30th, 2015 and Plan 123/KH-UBND, dated May 23rd, 2016 by the Provincial People’s Committee on implementing Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg, dated January 9th, 2015 on “organising the movement of all people’s participation in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security in the new situation,” the PBG has advised the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee to develop projects on residential areas along the border and review, supplement, and adjust the planning of residential areas near border guard posts and stations. At the same time, it has actively assisted the people in eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, building cultural villages, realising targets of socio-economic development in line with the building of a strong all-people border defence. Since 2015, the PBG has collaborated with the province’s departments, committees, and sectors in effectively executing 7 socio-economic development projects with a total investment of nearly 150 billion VND. Those projects have helped make a transformation in animal and crop husbandry, maintain military-civilian medical stations, and construct rural roads, public works, 178 “Houses of Great Unity” for the poor, 2 schools, and 30 “Red Cross - Border Guard Homes.” The PBG has cooperated with other relevant offices in implementing projects on giving 2,319 breeding cows to the poor in the border area and helping three communes, namely Phu Lung (Yen Minh district), Lung Cu (Dong Van district), and Xin Man (Xin Man district) to reach new-style countryside criteria. Under the Programme on “supporting children’s schooling” and the Model of “border guard posts’ adopted children,” tens of children in special difficulty have been provided with material and financial assistance, thus cementing ethnic minority citizens’ faith in the BGF.

While helping the people with socio-economic development, the PBG has frequently given advice to local party committees and authorities on raising the effectiveness of the “All-People Border Defence Day” and movements, such as “the masses take part in managing the borderlines and border markers and maintaining security and order at border villages by their own.” Up to now, 900 households and 110 collectives have committed themselves to managing 170 km of borderlines, 386 households have been committed to protecting 95 border markers, and 928 teams with 28,300 members have joined the PBG in patrolling border villages, thereby cementing the close-knit bond between the people and the BGF and building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” in the frontier area.

A part from those above-mentioned measures, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on raising the quality of combat readiness and crime prevention and control in the border area. The PBG’s affiliates have regularly reviewed, supplemented, adjusted, and completed projects for protecting the border, offices, stations, and posts as well as plans on natural disaster and forest fire prevention and control and search and rescue. They have strictly maintained regulations on combat readiness and enhanced practice and training to improve their synergy and combat power. They have closely cooperated with sectors and forces in preventing and combating crimes, trade frauds, smuggling, and social evils. Against the complex developments of COVID-19, the PBG has grasped and seriously executed directives from the Government, the Ministry of National Defence, and the BGF Command on protecting national sovereignty and border security and effectively keeping the pandemic under control as the “double tasks.” The PBG has collaborated with the Public Security Force, the Military, the Medical Force, and the Forest Protection Force in establishing 68 checkpoints and 17 patrol teams to closely manage the border and border gates, prevent illegal immigration, and give instructions on medical declaration. Those teams have handed over 3,000 citizens to quarantine zones and made contributions to maintaining political security and social order and safety in the border area.

To build a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, on the one hand, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have grasped and realised the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies on building strong border areas. On the other hand, they have stepped up the building of comprehensively strong border guard offices, posts, and stations as the core force in managing and firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security. Besides, they have actively given advice on implementing action programmes and projects for the Politburo’s Resolution 16-NQ/TW, dated October 10th, 2017 on “socio-economic development within land border communes in line with defence-security and diplomatic consolidation.” At the same time, they have focused their leadership and direction on effectively executing national target programmes on crime prevention and control in border areas, maintaining coordination between forces under the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP, dated September 5th, 2019, raising the effectiveness of the masses’ participation in border protection, and fostering diplomatic ties with China’s authorities and border defence force as the basis for firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security, building a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, and contributing to defending the Fatherland from afar.

Sr. Col. HOANG NGOC DINH, Commander of the PBG