Provincial and Municipal Military Party Committees hold a key role in the process of building provinces and centrally-controlled cities into strong defensive zones, thereby contributing greatly to the proper execution of this important mission.

According to Regulation 59-QĐ/TW, dated 22-12-2016 by the Politburo (12^th tenure) on party organizations within the Vietnamese People’s Army”, provinces and centrally-controlled cities’ Military Party Committees (hereinafter Provincial Military Party Committees - PMPC) are under direct management of local party organizations and responsible for leading all units under their direct management and giving advice to higher echelons’ party committees on the implementation of military-defence missions and building strong local and militia and self-defence forces. Accordingly, as regards the building of defensive zones, the PMPC primarily advise local party committees on building strong provincial and municipal defensive zones, and direct the building of their affiliated offices and units, meeting mission requirements.

The overall assessment of 10 years of building provinces and centrally-controlled cities into strong defensive zones in accord with the Resolution 28-NQ/TW, dated 22-9-2008 by the Politburo (10^th tenure) revealed that the PMPC have regularly been streamlined quantitatively and qualitatively, and constantly maintained their routine activities; and effectively and opportunely upheld their function as an advisory agency on military-defence work, thereby enabling local party committees and administrations to draw up leadership and management solutions, especially those concerning defence education and the mechanism for operating defensive zones in line with every locality’s particularities and military-defence missions. In addition, the PMPC have concentrated their leadership and directions on building revolutionary, regular, elite, and gradually modern active forces and strong and widespread militia and self-defence force, and powerful reserve force, readily undertaking and accomplishing assigned tasks. Yet, the operation of the PMPC still exposes some limitations, thus impacting negatively on the effectiveness of building defensive zones as evidenced by passive and unrealistic leadership and operational mechanisms and limited efficiency in defence-security education.

In order to properly execute two strategic missions of building and protecting the Homeland of socialist Vietnam, our Party and State regard the building of provinces and centrally-controlled cities into strong defensive zones as a policy of strategic importance. With their defined function and missions, the PMPC need to have a grasp of relevant contents to effectively advise local party committees to well perform this essential task with an emphasis on some contents as follows.

It is vital that the PMPC give advice to provincial and municipal party committees on effectively regulating the mechanism for building defensive zones. According to Resolution No. 28 by the Politburo (10^th tenure), the building and operation of defensive zones fall under the uniform leadership of provincial and municipal party committees and the management of provincial and municipal administrations; military agencies cooperate with public security agencies and local sectors, branches, and mass organizations in their advisory capacity on carrying out this mission”. Over the past time, the mechanism has been operated in an effective and regular fashion, thereby contributing to building strong defensive zones. Nevertheless, the PMPC need to help local party committees, administrations, sectors, branches, and mass organizations better perceive the nature and content of the mechanism for the sake of greater efficiency and awareness whilst continuing to give recommendations on concretizing the mechanism into specific regulations. Annually, the PMPC counsel party committees to tightly grasp the Party, State, and Military Regions’ resolutions and directives and localities’ situations, and formulate resolutions and successfully carry out the leadership resolutions on building localities into strong defensive zones.

Properly implementing the work of defense-security education is a matter of building and consolidating political-spiritual potential to transform the Party’s policies into physical strength to heighten the effectiveness of building defensive zones. Accordingly, the PMPC proactively advise local party committees and administrations to well perform the work of defense-security education with an emphasis on Marxist-Leninist fundamental viewpoints and Ho Chi Minh’s thought, and the Party’s guidelines on building and safeguarding the Homeland of socialist Vietnam; on local party organizations, people, and armed forces’ history, traditions, and cultural identities; on the fight against artifices and stratagems of “peaceful evolution” and sabotage activities by hostile forces, thereby upholding patriotic spirit and striving for the goal of “prosperous people, strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized nation” amongst people from all walks of life. At the same time, the PMPC need to concentrate their leadership and directions on instructing military agencies and their affiliates to uphold their core role in helping offices, units and schools to reform contents, forms and methods of executing this work; to streamline Councils of defence and security education at all levels; and to step up synergistic efforts to implement this work amongst sectors, branches, and organizations.

Actively advising provincial and municipal party committees to design policies and measures to lead and direct the building of defensive zone potential among sectors, branches, and the masses. Over the past time, there have been great improvements in building localities’ political, spiritual, economic, military, and security potential, thereby contributing to enhancing people’s physical and mental lives, boosting socioeconomic development, and consolidating defence and security situations in every stationed area. Grounded in attained results, the PMPC continue to counsel local party committees and administrations to promote revolutionary action movements, thus encouraging sectors, branches, mass organizations, and armed forces to successfully accomplish economic, social, defence and security targets in stationed areas, thereby contributing to building a firm posture of “people’s hearts and minds”, building strong and clean party organizations and strong administrations, combating manifestations of ideological, political, moral, and lifestyle degeneracy and “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst cadres and party members, fortifying the people’s confidence in party committees and administrations at grassroots level, and creating political and spiritual strength in defensive zones. At the same time, it is essential to counsel local party committees and administrations to closely combine socioeconomic development with defence-security consolidation whilst leading and directing military commands to partake in assessing socioeconomic planning and projects in line with designed regulations; to play a leading role in advising provincial and municipal people’s committees to formulate master plans on building military postures in defensive zones in accord with the Military Regions’ High Commands’ regulations.

Over the past time, the process of building defensive zones has shown that, for various reasons, the incitement and sabotage activities by hostile forces have led to disruptive mass rallies in some localities, affecting social order and safety. Therefore, the PMPC need to uphold their sense of responsibility for advising local party committees and administrations to properly handle arising woes. With their assigned duties, the PMPC must tightly grasp arising situations and clearly identify attendant threat levels, and fully understand leadership mottoes and propose right solutions, thereby promoting the synergy of the whole political system and every local force in harmoniously dealing with arising incidents in conformity with the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws. In the event that local armed forces are ordered to join other relevant forces in handling incidents, the PMPC must instruct military agencies to closely collaborate with public security forces under Decree 77/2010/NĐ-CP, dated 12-7-2010; thoroughly grasp higher echelons’ commands and  arising situations, and direct relevant forces in the line of duty whilst actively disseminating and mobilizing the masses, and upholding sectors, branches and mass organizations’ responsibility for effectively dealing with possible incidents.

Additionally, the PMPC need to give advice to local party committees and administrations on the work of military recruitment and the Army rear policies, especially on the building of strong local armed forces as a basis for carrying out the mission of building defensive zones.

To that end, the PMPC are required to ceaselessly uphold their sense of responsibility and duties towards the building of defensive zones with regularly quantitatively and qualitatively streamlined organizational structure. Members of the PMPC must display steadfast political zeal, thoroughly grasp the Party’s military guidelines and thinking, and be well- informed about local social life and situations on all fronts to put forward scientific and highly feasible solutions whilst building and efficiently executing work regulations, strictly abiding by principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership and individual accountability; setting great store by building a comprehensively strong contingent of cadres and consultative agencies, first and foremost political ones, thereby contributing to building provinces and centrally-controlled cities into increasingly fortified defensive zones, meeting mission requirements of safeguarding the Homeland in the new situation.

Senior Colonel Nguyen Van Thanh, PhD, Department of Party and Political Work, National Defence Academy