Ha Tien city is located in the Northwest of Kien Giang province, in the Mekong Delta key economic region, and in the tourist golden triangle of Rach Gia, Ha Tien, and Phu Quoc. The city has sufficient types of terrains, namely gulf, delta, mountain, river, cave, and island, holding a position of importance in terms of national defence, security, and diplomacy. Fully aware of the advantages, over the years, the City’s Party Committee and People’s Committee have focused their leadership and direction on comprehensively performing the military-defence work and achieved the encouraging results. Notably, the work of defence-security education for all cadres, troops and people has been carried out regularly and effectively. The city has fulfilled all targets for military call-up. Significance has been attached to combining economic development with national defence consolidation. The defensive zone’s potential and posture have been built up and consolidated. The city’s armed forces have kept increasing their synergy and combat strength. Those outcomes have made great contributions to maintaining political security and social order and safety, defending the city’s area, and creating a favourable condition for Ha Tien to successfully fuflil its targets of socio-economic and cultural development and build the city into an example within the province and the region.

To achieve the above-mentioned outcomes, the city’s armed forces, particularly the City’s Military Command  (CCC) and its Party Committee have promoted their core role in advising the City’s Party Committee and People’s Committee on directing and performing the military-defence work via proper, effective measures.

First of all, importance has been attached to counselling party committees and authorities to enhance their capacity to lead, direct, and operate the military-defence work, which would help the city to effectively carry out this work. Yearly, grasping the resolutions and directives by the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, particularly the Provincial Military Party Committee on the military-defence work, the CCC cooperates with sectors and offices in advising the City’s Party Committee on issuing leadership resolutions on the military-defence work in accordance with the city’s particularities and conditions as well as directives, guiding documents, and action programs/plans, and on directing the performance of the major tasks, such as the building of force, posture, and military works in the border and coastal areas and on islands.

Additionally, the CCC has counselled the City’s Party Committee and People’s Committee to adjust and supplement the regulations on performing the military-defence work and building the defensive zone, to clearly assign the function, task, and responsibility to each organization and individual, and to improve the all-level military offices’ task performance. To do so, the CCC has promoted the role of military cadres in guiding and inspecting the military work, actively enhanced the staff capacity and task performance of cadres who double as military ones at committees, sectors, and organizations, resolutely avoided being dependent upon the specialized force. Doing so has helped promote and raise the proactiveness and responsibility of the all-level party committees and authorities for conducting the military-defence work, stringently maintain the procedures for issuing resolutions and directives, performing the task, and inspecting, supervising and reviewing the task performance to draw lessons and opportunely work out the measures for overcoming weaknesses.

Second, concentrating on raising the quality of defence and security education for all people. Annually, the City’s Party Committee and People’s Committee attach great value to consolidating the all-level defence and security education councils and their standing commissions and secretariats, especially when there is a change in personnel within offices and authorities as well as amending the working regulations in accordance with particular conditions. As the standing office of the City’s Defence and Security Education Council, the CCC has frequently cooperated with the Office of Home Affairs in advising the City’s People’s Committee on directing offices, communes, and wards to grasp and classify groups of learners and develop the plans to provide knowledge of defence and security at each level. To make defence and security education effective, the city has actively renewed the content, form, and method of defence and security education in accordance with each group of learners and each area’s particularities, with emphasis placed on cadres under the city’s management, party cell secretaries, outstanding individuals, and enterprise owners. Focuses of defence and security education have been placed on introducing the Party’s military-defence viewpoints and guidelines, the National Defence Law, the Military Service Law, the Law on the Militia and Self-Defence Force, and the Ordinance on the Reserve Force so that learners would grasp the Party’s military-defence guidelines, the hostile forces’ plots and artifices of sabotage, and citizens’ rights and obligations to the Homeland defence. The CCC has flexibly employed methods of defence and security education, cooperated with offices, sectors, and unions in providing knowledge of defence and security, integrated defence and security education into activities of the Fatherland Fronts and mass organizations, public meetings, cultural and sports programs, and mass media’s programs. As for students in the area, the CCC has closely cooperated with the Office of Education in including defence and security education in schools’ activities and civics in order to equip students with initial, basic knowledge of defence and security. Moreover, the city has proactively reviewed and listed cadres of the 2^nd and 3^rd groups and sent them to attend defence and security education courses held by higher echelons while organizing courses for cadres of the 4^th group and several other groups at the City’s Political Education Centre. To that end, the City’s Defence and Security Education Council has directed the building of a contingent of lecturers and communicators with good knowledge of defence and security, ethics, and great prestige among the people. As a result, the work of defence and security education has helped make a positive change in the awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members, and all people for the Homeland protection, improve the potential and posture of the all-people national defence posture associated with the people’s security posture, and build a solid defensive zone within the city.

Third, making the armed forces strong and capable of playing the core role in carrying out the military-defence work. The standing force has been rearranged under the regulations set by the Military Region and the Provincial Military Command. The city has made the reserve force “close to and lean within the area,” well conducted the work of reservist registration, re-examination, dismissal, appointment, closely managed technical means, and ensured the readiness of reservists and equipment for mobilization. The militia and self-defence force has been made “strong and widespread,” with the proper quantity and increasingly high quality in accordance with the areas’ peculiarities and the requirements set by the task of maintaining local security. Consideration has been given to building and improving the standing, mobile militia force and the coastal militia and self-defence force. Besides, the CCC has directed offices and units to well perform the work of training and exercise according to the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, the Military Region Party Committee’s Resolution, and the Provincial Military Party Committee’s Resolution on “enhancing the training quality in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond.” In the process, the standing force has adhered to the training motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp,” the militia and self-defence force has followed the motto of “basics, practicality, and quality,” and the reserve force has complied with the motto of “practicality, step by step, and thorough grasp.” Units have closely combined combat training with political and legal education and discipline management, while strictly maintaining the order for combat readiness. It is worth noting that the CCC has counselled localities to actively make plans for and train cadres of commune-level military commands and gradually standardize a contingent of military cadres at grass-roots level. Yearly, the city’s armed forces organize sufficient training courses for 100% of troops. All cadres and soldiers have good training results, and over 75% of them achieve distinction and credit. In 2019 alone, the wards of Phao Dai and Dong Ho proactively and successfully held exercises.

Fourth, actively taking part in building the military posture of the defensive zone. Ha Tien city has border, mainland, seas, and islands (including 14 islands). Thus, the CCC has closely cooperated with relevant offices in formulating the master plan for national defence disposition in line with socio-economic development and fostering economic development associated with building the defensive zone’s potential and posture, particularly a “basic, inter-connected, solid” military posture. Up to now, the city has completed the plan for the defensive zone’s military posture. The headquarters and combat base have been basically complete and could be used for regular training and exercises as well as for combat when necessary. The rear base has been planned and gradually constructed. Also, the city has focused on building several militia posts in key border, sea, and island areas and providing favourable mental and material conditions for this force’s operation to deal with the defence and security situations. The posture at sea with the presence of the coastal militia and self-defence force has been built extensively, and the border patrol road will be complete in the near future to form a solid military posture within the defensive zone. All of the above-mentioned things would provide an important foundation for the Party Organization, Authority and people of Ha Tien to make the city strong and wealthy in terms of politics, economics, culture, society, defence, and security.

Col. Duong Van Than, Commander of the CCC