Currently, the hostile forces are enhancing “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within in a bid to remove the Party’s leadership role and undermine military staff’s political will and combat morale. Against that backdrop, over the past years, the Army Corps 4 has always actively, proactively prevented, fought against, and repelled the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” and considered this as a routine, important, urgent task.

The Army Corps 4 is a main, mobile strategic unit stationed in the Southeast region which has witnessed rapid economic growth but faced a lot of difficulties, challenges, and especially negative practices caused by industrialization, modernization, and international integration. This area is at the forefront of the hostile forces’ sabotage plan with many cunning artifices. Their plan is aimed at promoting “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within and making the Corps’ staff members deviate from the combat goal and ideal as well as devoid of determination and will to overcome difficulties and fulfil their assigned task, thereby easily falling to social evils and negative practices. To build a “compact and strong” Corps and particularly make it politically strong, the Corps’ Political Department has always proactively advised the Corps’ Party Committee and Command on directing the Corps’ affiliates to pay due regard to preventing and combating the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” and consider it as the centrepiece of the measures to prevent and fight against the “peaceful evolution” strategy as well as build pure, strong party organizations and comprehensively strong units.

A training course on “peaceful evolution” combat in cyberspace in 2019

First of all, focuses have been placed on directing party committees and organizations, and particularly party cells to prevent, combat, and push away the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. To that end, party committees and organizations at all levels have well implemented the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on the Party building and rectification, prevented and repelled the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, and strictly observed the principle of democratic centralism in every Party operation and meeting. This is the most fundamental principle in order to exercise democracy, respect discipline, and execute the mechanisms for controlling power and preventing the signs of arbitrariness pointed out by the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum from afar.

“Self-evolution” and “self-transformation” often start with the degradation in morality and lifestyle. If those phenomena are opportunely identified, they could be corrected. Thus, the Political Department has directed offices and units to improve the quality of party cells’ meetings and the training of cadres and party members. On a yearly basis, every cadre and party member write their commitments to self-improvement in line with the Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW, the Central Military Commission (CMC) Standing Board’s Directive 87-CT/QUTW, the 11^th Party Central Secretariat’s Regulation 101-QĐ/TW, and the CMC Standing Board’s Regulation 646-QĐ/QUTW on “the role model-setting responsibility of cadres and party members, particularly the all-level key cadres”. Doing so has provided the basis for cadres and party members to exercise self-criticism and criticism as well as for superiors, secretaries, and key cadres to set examples for their inferiors to follow. As a result, self-criticism and criticism have been effective; all staff members have dared to voice their weaknesses and remedies; secretaries and key cadres have opportunely grasped and settled the arising issues, thereby raising the effectiveness of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention right at the grass-roots level.

Offices and units have actively enhanced the quality of political, ideological education for their staff. This is a task of utmost importance to “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and combat. Only when grasping the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, the task of Homeland building and defence, and the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, could soldiers have full political awareness and avoid falling into the hostile forces’ traps and wrong viewpoints. Reality shows that the quality of political education depends on the teaching capacity, skill, and method of the staff in charge of this work. Thus, offices and units have well trained cadres in charge of political education and attached importance to training this staff via on-spot courses and contests as well as organizing refresher courses on methodology and information technology for those cadres. Up to now, 100% of cadres in charge of political education at the grass-roots level have made electronic lesson plans, used the projectors during their lectures, and well performed the training task at their level. To improve the effectiveness of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and combat, the Political Department has designed and delivered reference and supplementary documents, such as “Uncle Ho’s teachings on this day” and the skills in using social networks.

The workshop entitled “young military staff members affirm their faith in the Party and deserve to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers”

Consolidating and improving the force in charge of fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints on the Internet. Over the past years, the hostile and reactionary forces both at home and abroad have made best use of social networks and the Internet to spread the documents against our Party’s ideology and guidelines and hype up weaknesses and shortcomings in our Party and State’s socio-economic development and management. They have aimed at undermining troops’ ideology, stepping up “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and “civilization” of our Military, and gradually transforming our Military’s nature. As the information on social networks and the Internet is spread quickly and widely by modern technology equipment, we have to employ the specialized force and proper method and means. Therefore, the Political Department has proactively counselled the Corps’ Party Committee and Command to consolidate and raise the quality of the Steering Board on “peaceful evolution” combat (the Steering Board 94) and promote the responsibility of members of departments and committees, such as Reconnaissance, Operation, Military Science, Propaganda and Training, and Military Security. As the standing agency of the Steering Board 94, the Corps’ Political Department has heightened its responsibility for counselling and directing the struggle in cyberspace, proactively developed the plans, and creatively employed forms and methods of struggle in cyberspace. It has established and trained the force in charge of struggle in cyberspace (the Force 47) and enhanced the quality and effectiveness of this force. It has directed this force to proactively maintain the “battlefield of information”, quickly undertake researches, identify the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, opportunely prevent and adopt the measures against their propaganda effectively. At the same time, it has promoted the role of speakers and communicators in providing reliable, official information with a view to orientating the people and soldiers’ ideology and preventing them from being incited by fake information and distortions. Moreover, it has formed websites of organizations and members of the specialized force and developed blogs to opportunely fight against the hostile, wrong viewpoints on the Internet. Due regard has been paid to providing modern equipment and ensuring proper policies and entitlements for the force in charge of struggle on this complex, intense front.

Promoting the synergy of forces in “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and control. The Corps has closely cooperated with press agencies, local party committees and authorities, and the Public Security Force in the area in opportunely sharing information and formulating the plans for combating the “peaceful evolution” strategy.

The Corps has cooperated with press agencies in exchanging experiences and studied their methods of formulating the propagation programs, publishing news, and writing articles to prevent and control wrong, hostile viewpoints through mass media. Via regular meetings, the Corps has frequently exchanged information, new models, and effective approaches in fighting against “peaceful evolution”, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and “civilization” of the armed forces with the Public Security Force. At the same time, it has closely cooperated with this force in protecting internal security and preventing the hostile forces from infiltrating into the units and bribing cadres and soldiers. Besides, the Corps has cooperated with local party committees and authorities in executing the policies regarding military families and the “Gratitude” Movement and taking part in the construction of new-style countryside. Through those operations, the Corps has effectively disseminated the Party’s guidelines and the State’s law and policy to the people, raised their vigilance, and cooperated with local party committees and authorities and other forces in developing the plans/projects for riot, demonstration, and terrorism prevention and control as well as in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of the movement on building the safety belt. The Corps’ affiliates have strictly maintained the order and regulations for military standard building, discipline management, and cultural environment to create cadres and troops’ “immunity” against social evils and poisonous information; strictly implemented the Regulations on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level; proactively grasped, forecasted, and orientated troops’ ideological situation. Due attention has been paid to improving cadres and soldiers’ mental and material life in order to encourage them to fulfil all assigned tasks, build comprehensively strong units, and neutralize all plots and tricks of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”.

To meet the requirements set by the Homeland defence in the new situation, the Corps continues to step up the work of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” prevention and combat with a view to building a politically strong Corps as the basis for enhancing its synergy and combat strength, readily undertaking and successfully fulfilling all missions assigned by the Party, State, and people.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Van Dung, Head of the Corps’ Political Department