Building all-people national defence posture in Northeastern sea and coastal area is an important task of local authorities, sectors, armed forces, and citizens. Therefore, researching into measures for bringing into play synergy between components and forces in the building of this posture represents a matter of urgency nowadays. 

Northeastern sea and coastal area are of strategic importance to the country in economic, defence, security, and diplomatic terms. Therefore, building a firm posture of all-people national defence in this important sea will directly make contributions to defending strategic North Vietnam and the whole country. Being fully aware of this, over the years, our Party, State, and localities have actively, proactively, comprehensively, synchronously implemented measures to build such a posture and achieved many good results. It should be noted that we have mobilised human and material resources to organise and build the posture of all-people national defence at sea, while closely combining the building of the all-people national defence posture with the building of the defence potential and the people’s security posture at sea so as to increase the country’s defensive capacity, opportunely, effectively deal with defence-security situations, firmly protect national sovereignty over seas and islands, safeguard national benefits, maintain political security and social order and safety, ensure a peaceful, stable environment for national and local development, and readily transform the all-people national defence posture into the people’s war posture in the event.

However, several organisations and individuals have yet to be fully aware of the building of the all-people national defence posture in this region. A number of party committees and authorities’ leadership and management capabilities have been limited. Staff work by some offices, committees, and sectors has yet to be comprehensive and they have yet to pay due regard to building the all-people national defence posture, especially at sea. Mechanisms and regulations for coordination between sectors and sections have yet to be specific or clear. The synergy created by sectors, localities, the armed forces, and the entire people in the construction process has yet to be brought into play. To settle those shortcomings and continue promoting the synergy for the building of a firm posture of all-people national defence at sea, it is necessary to focus on implementing several basic measures as follows.

1. Bring into play the strength of local political system in the region. This measure acts as a determinant to forming the synergy and mobilising on-the-spot resources for the building of provincial and district-level defensive zones - the core component of the all-people national defence posture. Thus, it is essential to build a comprehensively strong local political system with great competence and experience in leading, directing, managing, counselling, and effectively performing military-defence work, especially in building the all-people national defence posture at sea. There should be mechanisms aimed at promoting the responsibility and participation of local departments, sectors, offices, units, and the armed forces in the construction process. The building of the all-people national defence posture at sea and the settlement of defence-security situations should be aligned with the responsibility of party committees, commands, and heads of offices, units, localities, and organisations. It is worth noting that the Northeastern sea and coastal area are faced with security challenges from both inside and outside. Many forces are taking part in building the national defence posture with different functions and tasks; the construction process is relevant to various material and financial resources. Therefore, it is important to bring into play the strength of the entire political system, sectors, and localities, well conduct the work of planning and cost estimation, closely manage, inspect, and investigate the construction process, and promote the role of social criticism of Fatherland Fronts and politico-political organisations to ensure that the building of the all-people national defence posture will achieve the preset goal and avoid wastefulness.

2. Frequently consolidate the three-category armed forces and promote their strength in performing this important task. Currently, Military Region 3, Naval Zone 1, Coast Guard Zone 1, the Border Guard Force, and other main units of the Ministry of National Defence are in charge of managing and defending the Northeastern sea and coastal area. They are the core force in building the all-people national defence posture across the country and at sea. Thus, great value should be attached to making local offices and units, particularly main units of the Ministry of National Defence comprehensively strong as the basis for raising their synergy and combat power. It is vital to continue realising three breakthroughs in organisational structure, training, and military standard order building and discipline management. Moreover, due attention should be paid to developing military art, science, and technology and renewing the work of logistics support at sea. Local military agencies should be made strong and capable of giving advice to local party committees and authorities on organising defence and security education, combining socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation, and building strong political bases. Due regard should be paid to well implementing policies for military families and mobilising local human and material resources for building the all-people national defence posture. The militia and self-defence force should be made compact and strong with a balance between core units. Significance should be attached to building coastal militia and self-defence units and standing coastal militia squadrons. Consideration should be given to gradually perfecting the disposition of forces and means of war in accordance with combat projects in this important region. In the process, coordination between sectors and localities should be maintained in an extensive but focalised manner to create the synergy for firmly protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands.

3. Promote the strength of the national great unity block to build the all-people national defence posture. Unity is a valuable tradition and source of strength of our nation. Therefore, measures should be adopted to arouse, bring into play, and exploit all available resources, all types of potential, all historical, cultural, and traditional values, patriotism, a sense of national independence, and self-reliance, and cement the people’s faith in the Party and the State for the building of the all-people national defence posture. It is necessary to well conduct the work of defence and security education for all citizens to create a consensus within the society for the building of a firm posture of all-people national defence. There should be mechanisms and policies to develop talents and encourage creativity of people from all walks of life in production, business, and legitimate enrichment to bring benefits to their families, localities, and country. In addition, due attention should be paid to mobilising resources from the people, promoting democracy, maintaining social discipline, and heightening civic responsibility for the State and the society. It is important to effectively execute Regulations on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level, ensure that “the people know, the people do, the people inspect, and the people benefit,” and encourage the participation of the people in building and managing the all-people national defence posture. Emphasis should be placed on well implementing policies and laws on ethnicity, religion, social security, investment, credit, insurance, and taxation to facilitate production, maintain the safety of citizens and economic sectors, and create a favourable condition for fishermen to work within their traditional fishing grounds, and make contributions to defending sacred national sovereignty over seas and islands.

4. Mobilise and maximise external resources for building the all-people national defence posture. Sectors, localities, and forces in the Northeastern sea and coastal area should enhance bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activities and establish multidimensional information channels with our neighbour in order to attract external resources for building the all-people national defence posture. In this regard, it is necessary step up defence cooperation between our Navy, Coast Guard, and Border Guard Force and our neighbour’s competent forces, particularly joint patrols and search and rescue operations to settle issues at sea. Besides, it is essential to promote diplomatic activities of the Party, the State, and the people with regional countries and international organisations, particularly China’s localities sharing land and sea borders with Vietnam in order to render those countries’ people, local authorities, and armed forces fully aware of our country’s history, geography, culture, foreign and defence policies, and goodwill in settling disputes over natural resources, seas, and islands and take advantage of their support for the building of the all-people national defence posture in this important sea.

5. Develop and perfect mechanisms of coordination between components and forces in the building of the all-people national defence posture. This is an important measure aimed at creating a legal corridor for components and forces to support one another and deal with overlapping responsibilities. To that end, it is necessary to clearly identify roles and responsibilities of the subjects of the coordination mechanisms as well as scopes, forms, methods, and elements of coordination, such as legal documents, facilities, and finance. Moreover, it is possible to establish coordinating bodies for all forces. In this regard, the armed forces should be in charge of staff work and coordination, while steering boards on building provincial-level defensive zones should serve concurrently as coordinating bodies.

The synergy for building the all-people national defence posture at sea is not a simple addition; it is a dialectical unity of all elements and forces. Therefore, the synchronous, effective implementation of those above-mentioned measures is a matter of urgency to building the all-people national defence posture within the Northeastern sea and coastal area.

Col. CANH CHI CUONG, PhD, National Defence Academy of Vietnam