Unconventional warfare is a form of warfare that has been conducted by the US and Western countries against certain nations that oppose or are hostile to them, especially the socialist ones. Therefore, understanding its nature and ways of conducting operation to develop effective preventive and countermeasures is an important issue.
The US ATP 3-05.1 Unconventional Warfare defines unconventional warfare as activities conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area. Unconventional warfare is a tool of US national power. It can be seen that unconventional warfare is not a new form of warfare for the world, but for Viet Nam, although it was mentioned in Conclusion No. 31-KL/BCT, dated April 16, 2018, by the Politburo (12th tenure) on Military strategy, this form of warfare is still relatively new. Therefore, this issue needs to be comprehensively understood and actively studied for effective prevention and countermeasures.
In reality, to conduct unconventional warfare, there are conditions required both internally and externally. Internal conditions typically include a weak and deteriorating government that is at odds with the people; the majority of the population holding anti-government opinions or being influenced and tempted by adversary forces; the formation of opposing political organisations with established leadership capable of rallying a large number of participants to their movements; organised and relatively modern armed forces capable of confronting the incumbent government’s armed forces; advantageous areas of operation for rapid development and expansion of conflict. As for external conditions: adversary forces being able to muster allies and coalitions, especially major powers and neighbouring countries of the opposing side; creating necessary military strength and favourable conditions for effective intervention, support, and assistance to the insurgent forces from within; and justifications for military intervention, such as calls from internal forces and manipulation of the United Nations to legitimise and internationalise the war, etc.
To conduct an unconventional war, the fulfilment of essential internal and external conditions is absolutely essential as they form the basis for waging such a war and determining the capability to implement unconventional warfare of the adversary forces. Among these conditions, the internal factors determine initial posture, and force, as well as the creation of justifications and foundations for conducting the war smoothly and minimising losses for the party that initiates the conflict. The external conditions determine the capability, pace, progress, and duration of the unconventional warfare effort, as well as the achievement of its objectives. The analysis above demonstrates that the internal and external conditions are closely interconnected, mutually influencing each other. They serve as both the prerequisites and foundations, which are supplemented and perfected throughout the course of the war, with internal conditions playing a decisive role.
Unconventional warfare, insurgency, and conventional warfare have distinct differences. Insurgency typically takes the forms of political, armed, or secessionist rebellions; it is also one of the defence situations, varying in scale and posing significant threats, but mainly involving limited military and resistance activities, and is unlikely to be able to overthrow the incumbent government. Conventional warfare (large-scale invasion) is primarily conducted by military forces, often combined with other forms of struggle, but the fundamental resolution of the war relies on military strength. On the other hand, unconventional warfare usually develops from insurgency but encompasses all the characteristics, nature, and methods of a larger-scale war involving greater military power and operational intensity. It involves a combination of insurgent and military forces, with large-scale insurgency activities combined with military operations in strategic areas. However, the scale and intensity of military operations are significantly more limited compared to conventional warfare.
For Viet Nam, the general ways of conducting unconventional warfare can be summarised as follows: adversary forces, including hostile countries or major powers, employ strategies such as “colour revolution”, “peaceful evolution”, and “self-transformation”. They exploit issues related to “ethnicity”, “religion”, “democracy”, and “human rights”, coordinating with reactionary parties and organisations both domestically and abroad to incite political, armed, and secessionist rebellions. They aim to seize control of key objectives, strategically militarily important areas, and political, economic and cultural centres, igniting civil war and creating justifications for foreign military intervention. They employ both non-armed and armed measures and set up reactionary organisations and puppet opposition governments to force the Vietnamese Government into negotiations and acceptance of their demands. They manipulate the United Nations, establish no-fly zones, and blockade, embargo, and isolate Viet Nam in order to undermine the leadership role of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.
To effectively prevent and counter unconventional warfare, it is necessary to implement a comprehensive range of measures and this article proposes the following key solutions:
First and foremost, the internal building. This is a fundamental issue that plays a decisive role in preventing and countering unconventional warfare, as internal conditions and factors always have a determining role in this form of warfare. Therefore, the focus should be placed on building and consolidating the trust of the people in the Party, the State, and the socialist regime. It is through trust that essential cohesion is established, fostering a willingness to build and develop and the determination to protect the Motherland. Building a Party, State, and political system that are truly transparent, strong, united, and closely connected to the people, working for the interests of the people, is of paramount importance. National interests must always be placed above all else, and such interests must be seen as the ultimate goal in all actions. In addition, the work of preventing and combating corruption must be implemented effectively and any occurrence of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, individualism, and group interests must be stopped and pushed back. Also, we must strive to build a democratic, just, and civilised society. Furthermore, we must take good care of the interests of revolution veterans, essential forces that serve as the backbone of the Party and the State, the revolutionary cadre corps, especially the military, the police, and the law enforcement agencies that have always been loyal and trustworthy forces of the Party, the State, and the people. Alongside these, we must attach importance to forecasting work, especially strategic forecasting, timely detecting and eliminating potential threats that could lead to instability, resolutely preventing and pushing back against opposing political organisations, potential sources that could lead to political, armed, and secessionist rebellions, and eliminating factors that could enable unconventional warfare.
Additionally, we must build, strengthen and enhance the all-people national defence posture in combination with the all-people security posture in the new situation – a crucial foundation to prevent and push back the risks of conflicts and wars in general, and unconventional warfare in particular. At the same time, we must be prepared to fight and defeat all types of warfare that the enemy may conduct, regardless of their scale and form. Also, it is essential to ignite within the people the desire to build a prosperous and strong country, a mighty nation, with a sense of national pride, a patriotic spirit, a resilient and indomitable will, a sense of unity and cohesion as a community and nation, and the enduring cultural values of the Vietnamese people, the heroic Vietnamese nation. Additionally, we must conduct practical summaries and theoretical research on socialism to explore the very new issues of socialism today, especially the issues occurring in practice compared to our previous understanding of socialism. Furthermore, we must prove and clarify the superiority of the socialist regime in practice to strengthen the people’s trust, thereby exerting efforts to protect the socialist regime and having a firm belief in the path chosen by the Party, Uncle Ho, and our People. A country with a political system centred around the Communist Party of Viet Nam, a strong, pure, and united Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, where the people trust and are determined to strive for the goals of a wealthy people, a powerful country, democracy, equity, and civilisation, with everybody unite as a bloc striving for the interests of the nation and the people, cannot be invaded by any force.
Next, foreign relations. The external conditions are crucial for unconventional warfare, and from a military perspective, there are times they are the deciding factor for the success of this form of warfare. Sometimes, through diplomatic activities, it is possible to defuse the risks that can lead to conflicts and wars. Therefore, foreign affairs play a vital role in preventing and pushing back unconventional warfare. In this regard, we must correctly implement the open, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy, and position of our Party and State, in which Viet Nam is willing to be a reliable friend, partner, and responsible member in the international community. We prioritise the national interests above all else and consider it as the highest objective that guides all our actions in foreign affairs, alongside the principle of “more friends, fewer enemies”, continuously strengthening and enhancing the country’s position and reputation.
In foreign relations, it is important to affirm the strategic significance of relationships with neighbouring countries with the aim of building long-term, sustainable relationships based on peace, friendship, cooperation, and development. We also value relationships with countries in the region, especially with major powers, aiming to avoid conflicts, differences, and situations that are not beneficial for Viet Nam. Furthermore, we remain calm in reacting to provocative manoeuvres by adversary forces, and we avoid being trapped in situations where we have to take sides in relationships with major powers. We persistently resolve conflicts and differences through peaceful means based on international law and national interests. Additionally, we must be clever yet resolute to ensure that our national interests are not compromised, particularly in issues regarding independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, peace, and stability in order to build and develop our country. Also, we must firmly prevent risks that can lead to instability, and defuse risks that may cause conflicts or wars. We do not allow adversary forces within the country to collude with external reactionary forces to sabotage our national interests and neutralise any factor that can lead to unconventional warfare.
If an unconventional war is unavoidable, it is necessary to calmly study and identify the root cause of it, but first and foremost, every effort must be made to eliminate the causes and conditions that lead to war. When conflict is inevitable, it is crucial to proactively grasp and accurately assess the situation, especially the insurgent forces within, predict the likelihood of foreign military intervention, the key targets and occupied areas by the insurgent forces, the scale and capabilities of the armed insurgent forces and the masses they attract, and the scale, resources, methods, strategies, and tactics of the foreign intervention force. Also, we must develop suitable combat plans, and promptly use forces to secure vital and important targets, advantageous terrain, transportation hubs, roads, border and coastal areas, key seaports, etc. In addition, it is essential to contain the armed insurgent forces, cut off their connections with popular support, and surround and cut off the foreign intervention forces with the insurgent forces inside the country. Furthermore, we must employ primarily the method of comprehensive offensive operations to defeat the enemy’s conventional warfare plan, closely combining military offensives with political struggles at strategic areas, wherein military offensives play the key role and must be carried out in advance.
Military actions must be carried out through defensive, counteroffensive, and offensive engagements and operations, with the main form being offensive manoeuvres. In addition, we must use overwhelming forces to conduct “fast strike, fast victory” engagements, eliminating armed insurgent forces and foreign intervention forces, creating favourable conditions for political struggles. Also, we must focus on destroying the foreign intervention forces in any domains, including ground offensives, air assaults, amphibious assaults, etc., denying their opportunities to escalate the war. Additionally, political struggles must be meticulously implemented with different scales by local party committees and authorities in areas affected by the insurgency, in close coordination with military actions and must fully exploit the outcomes of military actions. At the strategic level, all actions must be organised by the Central Party Committee with regional coordination, in which political struggles are conducted at strategic points, major cities, political centres, vital economic hubs, and strategically important areas. Also, throughout the course of the war, we must closely integrate political, economic, and diplomatic activities at the national and international levels, harnessing comprehensive strength to defeat the enemy, fully making use of the results of struggles by friendly neighbouring countries and the support of the international community.
Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Dr. TRAN THAI BINH