Binh Dinh is located on the Central Coast, acting as the gateway to the East Sea, being adjacent to the Highlands provinces, Southern Laos, Northeastern Cambodia and Thailand; therefore, it holds a position of importance to the socio-economic development, diplomacy, defence and security of the Military Region 5 and the whole country.

Over the years, in addition to the central task of socio-economic development, all-level party committees and authorities and the people have always grasped and well implemented the Party’s strategy on building defensive zones. Hence, the province’s defensive zone potential has been strengthened step by step. Local defensive zones’ military posture has been inter-connected and increasingly strong in accordance with each locality’s particularities. Socio-economic development has been closely combined with defence-security consolidation. The mechanism for party committees’ leadership and authorities’ management at all levels have operated flexibly and effectively. The provincial armed forces’ synergy and combat readiness have unceasingly improved. That has created a favourable condition for maintaining political security and social order and safety and facilitating the province’s rapid, sustainable development. Those achievements have resulted from local party committees and authorities’ synchronous, drastic leadership and direction, the entire political system’s participation, and a consensus among people from all social strata. Several lessons have been drawn from the building of defensive zones by Binh Dinh province as follows.

1. Promote the core role of all-level military offices in giving advice to party committees and authorities on leadership and direction over the building of defensive zones. Grasping the military-defence guidelines by the Party and directives by the State, the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 5 as well as its function and task, the Provincial Military Command (PMC) has cooperated with provincial departments, committees and sectors in counselling the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee to issue documents, programmes, and plans on building defensive zones as the basis for sectors and localities’ implementation process. At the same time, it has directed district-level military offices to give advice to the district-level people’s committees on adjusting projects in their development plans, thus contributing to fostering socio-economic development and strengthening defensive zones’ potential and military posture.

With a coastline of 134.5 km, marine economy plays an important role in Binh Dinh’s socio-economic development and its defensive zones’ potential. The PMC has counselled the Provincial People’s Committee to develop the Action Programme 22-CTr/TU, dated July 29^th, 2019 for the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution 36-NQ/TW, dated October 22^nd, 2018 on “the Strategy for Vietnam’s marine economic development towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045.” It has proactively advised local party committees and authorities on formulating and effectively executing the Project on “national defence maintenance in the period of 2015-2020, with orientation towards 2030.” Moreover, it has intensified review and inspection of the building and operation of defensive zones at all levels. Doing so has helped create a consensus among committees, sectors, unions and localities about the building and operation of defensive zones as well as the combination of economic development and national defence consolidation.

A training course on defensive combat

2. Attach significance to building the politico-economic potential and especially the “posture of people’s hearts and minds” as the basis for a solid provincial defensive zone. With the goal of “securing and grasping the people,” over the years, the provincial armed forces have counselled local party committees and authorities on propagating and disseminating the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policy and law on the Homeland construction and protection, the defence-security task, and particularly the building of defensive zones. Emphasis has been placed on building strong political bases, enhancing party organisations’ leadership and combativeness and authorities’ management capacity at all levels, and promoting the role of unions in encouraging the people to implement the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policy and law on socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation. Due attention has been paid to strengthening and improving all-level defence and security education councils and providing defence and security education synchronously from provincial to grass-roots levels for all groups of learners, particularly cadres of the 3^rd and 4^th groups, religious dignitaries, and students. Besides, consideration has been given to equipping the people with knowledge of national defence and security, especially the national sovereignty over seas and islands. Also, the provincial armed forces have actively helped the people with natural disaster mitigation, economic development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and new-style rural area construction, enhanced training marches associated with the mass mobilisation work, and well implemented the policy for the Army Rear, thereby creating a consensus between local authorities and citizens on building defensive zones and combining economic development with defence consolidation in the areas.

3. Mobilise and effectively use resources to build the military posture within defensive zones. Grounded on the province’s socio-economic development master plan and the Military Region 5’s defensive posture, the PMC has closely cooperated with relevant departments, sectors and localities in counselling the Provincial People’s Committee to formulate the Plan for the military posture of defensive zones properly. Great value has been attached to laying out essential military works, such as headquarters, combat bases, rear bases, technical-logistics bases, key defensive targets, key defensive areas, and combat constructions, particularly in the coastal areas and on the island of Cu Lao Xanh. To do so, in addition to effectively using the funding allocated by higher echelons and grasping local resources, the provincial armed forces have actively advised all-level party committees and authorities on deducting a part of their budgets to build defensive zones and constructions. Over the years, the province has transformed over 2,500 hectares of land into defensive works, reviewed and documented local facilities and natural caves to manage and serve the building of military posture within defensive zones. In spite of a lot of difficulties, thanks to scientific approaches and efforts by the whole political system and people, in recent years, the military posture within the province’s defensive zones has been actively built and many combat constructions have been completed to gradually create an inter-connected, flexible, in-depth posture both at sea and on land.

4. Concentrate on making local armed forces strong and capable of playing the core role in building defensive zones. The province has focused on building a “compact, strong” standing force. Military units have attached importance to raising the quality of political and ideological education to ensure that all of their cadres and soldiers would be absolutely loyal to the Homeland, the Party and the people. The PMC has directed units to train their troops to master the existing weapons and equipment, individual and detachment-level skills and tactics, and combat coordination with other forces stationed in their areas, particularly with units of the Ministry of National Defence, the Military Region 5 and the Border Guard Force. In the training process, units have closely combined military training with discipline management and military standard order building. Besides, due attention has been paid to recruiting, registering, managing and training the reserve force, ensuring sufficient policies and entitlements for this force, staffing all reserve units, training reservist officers, and preparing human resources in order to improve the quality of the reserve force. At the same time, the province has focused on managing means, materials and technical equipment of the economy within defensive zones so that it could mobilise them in the event. The militia and self-defence force has been made “strong and extensive.” In this regard, emphasis has been placed on building and improving the militia and self-defence force at commune level, the coastal militia and self-defence force, and the self-defence force at offices, organisations, and business of all types within the economy. The province has well trained and cultivated commune-level military cadres. Greater importance has been attached to training mobile militia units in accordance with their stationed areas’ particularities, especially on the coast and at sea. Under the guidelines on building standing coastal militia fleets by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 5, the province has reviewed and selected the place to construct barracks and moorings as the basis for continuing to build this force in each specific phase and maintaining maritime security.

Based on the above-mentioned lessons, the PMC will give advice to the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee on continuing to build solid defensive zones within Binh Dinh province to meet the increasingly high requirements set by the task of constructing and defending the Socialist Vietnamese Homeland.

Sr. Col. TRAN THANH HAI, Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Board, Commander of the PMC