State management in general and in defence in particular plays a crucial role in strengthening defence potential of the country. On clearly perceiving that importance, An Giang Military Command has successfully brought into play its role in advising local party executive committees and authorities to do this work effectively.

An Giang is a border province that holds an important position in defence and security within defence posture of the 9th Military Region and the whole key economic zone of Mekong River Delta. Realising that importance, together with undertaking every defence, military task, the Provincial Military Command and Party Executive Committee have constantly brought into play their role in advising local party executive committees and authorities to exercise state management of defence effectively. This is a complex, difficult mission because it relates to many levels, branches, and fields. Additionally, it closely intertwines with and has influence on interest of organisations, individuals, and businesses and directly affects the effectiveness of local military, defence work. Consequently, the Provincial Military Command has invested a great deal of effort in leading this task from the studying, reviewing, identification of guidelines, and planning to advice and implementation.

First of all, the Provincial Military Command has taken initiative in advising the Provincial Party Executive Committee and People’s Committee to promulgate legal normative acts in defence, military work, most notably the Overarching Socio-economic Development Plan of the Province until 2020, the Project on Building Defence Zones and Socio-economic Development in Border Areas and Areas Inhabited by ethnic people, and so on. These are essential bases of mandatory character to enable the Province to lead and instruct departments, branches, and localities to well perform military, defence work in the area, thereby bringing into play the integrated strength of the whole political system and people to fulfill the mission of safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation.

The Provincial Military Command and military commands at all levels have advised authorities to manage and direct comprehensive building of defence areas in the realms of forces, potential and posture, and advised party executive committees and authorities to closely manage socio-economic projects, especially the major ones with a view to achieving both the socio-economic and defence-security goals. Special importance has been attached to associating the building of military posture in defence zones with the planning of socio-economic development, including industrial parks, border gate economic zones, transport infrastructure, irrigational works, and so forth. Accordingly, the Province has given priority to building, upgrading, and improving N1 Highway (Chau Doc-Tri Ton), motorways, Border Patrol Road, and Ho Chi Minh Road. Additionally, it has cleared waterway traffic to ensure that it both supports production and serves as an alternative for maneuver in case of defence-security situations. Besides, the Province has instructed people to actively afforest on embankment body, low-fertility forest soils, and treeless mountains; and preserve existing forests, which not only contributes to improving the environment and tourism but also ensuring secrecy in force deployment and maneuver, gradually shaping extensive, robust military posture in defence zones. Owing to advice of the Provincial Military Command, the Province has completed the building of some headquarters, rear bases, technical logistics bases, assembly areas, militia-border guard posts, and so on.

The Provincial Military Command and military commands at all levels have also advised the Provincial Party Executive Committee and People’s Committee to well provide defence and security education for various learners, laying foundation for improving quality and effectiveness of state management of defence. Every year, the Provincial Military Command advises and helps the Provincial Council on Defence and Security Education to develop plans and provide defence and security education for learners; and concentrate on renewing content and programs of education, most notably the standardisation of knowledge for leading cadres at all levels and branches. The Province has opened defence and security training courses for 89,476 cadres, 1,057 religious dignitaries and ministers, and 100% of pupils and students since 2008, while propagandising and disseminating knowledge of defence and security to people through mass media and meetings, thus contributing to raising people’s awareness of citizens’ rights and duties to defend the Fatherland, and sense of responsibility for complying with the Party’s guidelines and State’s policies and law in defence and security field.

The province’s defensive zone exercise in 2018

The Provincial Military Party Executive Committee and Command have also paid attention to building strong local armed forces, enabling them to play the core role in advising and executing state management in the area of defence. Accordingly, the Province attaches importance to training the standing force to continually improve its level of readiness and professional competence. The reserve is established, trained and mobilised strictly in line with the Reserve Ordinance. The militia, self-defence force is made “robust, extensive” with the appropriate strength and structure and integrated quality while the combat strength of the armed forces is ceaselessly improved. This has been tested through defence zone exercises, work of mass mobilisation, building of new countryside, and hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, implementation of social policy, military family policy, ethnic policy, and religious policy of the Party, active participation in disaster prevention and relief, and so forth. These activities have been appreciated by local authorities and people. This is a vital premise for the armed forces to well complete their advisory mission and coordinate the execution of state management of defence in the area.

Apart from recorded achievements, there remain shortcomings and weaknesses in the Province’s state management of defence. Normative acts have not been opportunely promulgated and amended and failed to catch up with the situation. Levels and branches have not fulfilled their responsibility properly yet. Defence inspection is not proactive and regular sometimes. To ceaselessly enhance the effectiveness of state management of defence in the new situation, the Provincial Military Command needs to continue to bring into play its leading role in advising the Provincial Party Executive Committee and People’s Committee to lead and instruct the realisation of this important mission, most notably the following aspects.

First, actively advising the Province to perfect, supplement and improve the quality of legal normative documents in defence area. To do so, The Provincial Party Executive Committee and Military Command have to focus on developing a corps of cadres who not only excel at military but also possess comprehensive knowledge of law, state management, economy, and society, competent to give advice on the development and promulgation of legal normative documents and assist people’s committees at all levels in state management of defence. In addition, they also have to actively advise on renewing the process of developing, assessing and examining legal normative documents in defence area in a close, concrete and scientific direction and in line with reality. During the implementation process, special attention must be paid to people’s opinions, criticism of social organisations, and promoting grassroots level democracy, particularly Military Service Law, Law on Militia and Self-Defence Force, Reserve Ordinance, policy on military family, and so on.

Second, stepping up the advisory work and well propagandise legal documents in the defence area. The Provincial Military Party Executive Committee and Command believe that awareness represents the foundation for action. Therefore, the propaganda of legal normative documents in the defence area to enable every citizen to clearly understand, believe and willingly comply with the Party’s guideline and the State’s policies and law in the defence area is a crucial solution. To realise this task, the Province’s armed forces continue to thoroughly perceive the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and law in the defence area, thus advising party executive committees and authorities at all levels to proactively develop and implement propaganda plans consonant with defence and military features, missions, and requirements of the locality.

Third, advising the Province to lead and instruct functional forces to jointly put law in the defence area into everyday life. Functional departments of the Provincial Military Command actively scrutinise to be well aware of the situations and proactively advise party executive committees and local authorities to direct forces, especially the Military, Border Guard, Public Security, Forest Ranger, etc., to conduct joint patrols, inspection and instruct local people to strictly abide by the State’s law, including law in the defence area. Additionally, it sends more officers, together with unions and localities, to actively participate in activities and legal propaganda right in villages, difficult areas, regions inhabited by ethnic minorities and religious people; and effective carry out models such as “boundary and marker self-management teams,” “women’s teams in concert with Border Guard to protect border sovereignty and security,” etc., bringing into play the strength of all people in the implementation of Border Law and Border Guard Ordinance.

Fourth, paying attention to advising the Province to strengthen inspection, supervision, preliminary summing-up, and summarisation of the implementation of defence mission. The Province’s military organisations, within their areas of responsibility, bring into play the role in giving advice to their corresponding party executive committees and authorities; collaborate with functional agencies to examine, inspect and supervise the implementation of defence mission while giving prominence to the role of the masses and socio-political organisations in examining and supervising the implementation of state management of defence right at grass-roots level; maintaining regulations concerning preliminary summing-up, and summarisation at all levels; step by step improving the quality and effectiveness of state management of defence in the new situation. Additionally, the Provincial Military Command needs to strictly maintain regulations on interaction with people and settlement of complaint in the defence area as defined by state law, thereby generating consensus on building a law-governed state and enhancing state management of all fields, including the military, defence areas, making contribution to successfully realising goals and missions in socioeconomic development, defence and security strengthening, and protection of sovereignty and border security in South Western Vietnam.

Senior Colonel Bui Hong Luc, Member of Provincial Party Executive Committee,

Commissar of Provincial Military Command