The Border Guard of Ha Tinh province is mainly tasked with managing and protecting the national sovereignty and security in the land border between Vietnam and Laos and the maritime border. This is an extremely heavy task which is performed in a large area with complex terrain. Meanwhile, the strength of the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) is small; the security situation in the border is complex; crimes of all types tend to increase; hostile forces are accelerating their acts of sabotage. To successfully fulfil the assigned task, the PGB has strictly grasped and implemented resolutions and directives by higher echelons, particularly by the Border Guard High Command and the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee via synchronous measures with a focus on border diplomacy as a breakthrough to contribute to managing and safeguarding border sovereignty and security in the area of responsibility. In recent years, in spite of difficulties in manpower and equipment, the PGB Command has taken various measures and creative approaches to carry out this important work. In reality, the province’s border diplomatic work has witnessed both wide and deep developments, which has been highly appreciated by the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee. Border posts have regularly closely cooperated with local party committees and authorities and the border guard forces of Laos in holding regular and unscheduled meetings and dialogue, exchanging information, maintaining the hot line, signing agreements, and organizing exchanges and twinning activities. Also, it has been active in the management and protection of the border under regulations and international conventions and treaties; in exit and entry; in the search, collection and repatriation of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and military specialists’ remains. It is noteworthy that the PGB has cooperated with the border guard of Laos in developing border gate economic zones, building and repairing the monument “Solidarity of the Vietnamese-Lao combat alliance”. Those activities have helped the PBG successfully fulfil the task of protection of national border sovereignty and security and build a border of peace, friendship and cooperation for development, contributing to making the province stand firm in the process of renewal and international integration.

To achieve those results mentioned above, the PBG has attached importance to the work of education to raise cadres and troops’ awareness of border diplomacy. Advocating the point of view that uniform and raised awareness is the key to the successful fulfilment of all assigned tasks, including border diplomacy, the PGB’s Party Committee and Command have focused on leading and directing offices, posts and stations to actively study, renew contents, and flexibly employ measures for propagation and education in accordance with objects, areas, particularities and tasks of units, and troops’ intellectual levels. In addition to improving cadres and troops’ political stuff, the PGB Command has required party committees, commanders and commissars at all levels to enhance the work of propagation of the pure, special, faithful solidarity between Vietnam and Laos, and to preserve and promote the relationship to successfully fulfil the assigned task. Party committees, commanders and commissars at all levels have been required to render troops fully aware of the Party’s line on diplomacy, international integration and defence diplomacy, our law and our neighbour’s law, international regulations, and regulations, conventions and treaty on border between the two countries. At the same time, importance has been attached to maintaining vigilance against hostile forces’ plots and artifices which aim to divide the traditional relationship between the two peoples and Armies.

Due regard has been given to diversifying forms and methods of propagation and education; to closely combining mass education under the basic political education programs with classifying objects to conduct special education; to taking measures for direct education via the process of performing the tasks to enhance troops’ capability and experience in diplomatic work. As a result, cadres and troops of the PBG, especially those in charge of external affairs, recce teams and groups as well as relevant forces have fully understood the task, possessed scientific work method and style, and promoted their role and responsibility in their work, thereby greatly contributing to the PGB’s task performance.

Besides, the PGB Command has concentrated on renewing and improving the effectiveness of defence diplomacy, particularly in the land border as the basis for building a border of peace, friendship, and cooperation for development. Border diplomacy is part of defence diplomacy. It represents the country’s image in the border area, thus playing a role of utmost importance to not only the protection of the Homeland and national border sovereignty and security, but the socio-economic development in the area. Fully aware of that, over the past years, as the core force in border diplomacy, the PGB has focused on renewing this work comprehensively, deeply, effectively, practically in accordance with the province’s particularities, the Party’s diplomatic line, and expectations and legitimate interests of the people from the two sides of the border. To do so,  the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have paid attention to consolidating the organizational structure of offices and units, improving the quality of training courses on diplomacy, particularly for the force in charge of diplomacy, ensuring that they have capability and professional competence to analyze and evaluate the situation, give advice to higher echelons, and well handle the issues on the relationship between the two countries both in defence diplomacy and people-to-people exchange. The PBG Command has proactively adjusted mechanisms and policies in accord with each period and diplomatic task of the province, creating favourable conditions for the force in charge of diplomacy to effectively operate and promote the core role in performing this important task. The province’s border posts, stations, working teams and groups have regularly renewed and improved the effectiveness of operation, and held meetings and dialogues on various scales, via diverse forms, at different levels, creating a change in diplomacy in the border area. At the same time, significance has been attached to reviewing and assessing the results of diplomacy and cooperation between local authorities and border forces of the two countries in all operations, particularly holding joint patrols to protect the border, preventing and combat crime and illegal border crossing, and developing border gate economic zones, in order to draw lessons and propose guidelines, roadmap and measures for cooperation in the time to come. One of the most important results of the province’s defence diplomacy is that it has signed and implemented exchange, twinning programs with creative models, creating a sense of unity for the sake of a border of peace and friendship for mutual development. In this regard, the PGB has assisted the border guard of Laos in training cadres, providing financial aids to build the force and facilities as well as giving free examination, treatment and medicine to Laotian people along the border, greatly contributing to consolidating the faith between the Armies, authorities and peoples of the two countries, maintaining and strengthening the traditional, special relationship between Vietnam and Laos in the cause of renewal, integration and development.

Consideration has been given to maintaining close collaboration between the Border Guard forces and relevant offices and forces, which has been seen as an important solution to promote the synergy and successfully fulfil the task of border diplomacy. To that end, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command, particularly the organ for external affairs have both given advice to the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee as well as higher echelons’ organs for external affairs, and directly studied, signed and implemented regulations and plans for coordination with the province’s departments, committees and sectors (External Affairs, Military, Customs, etc.) as well as party committees and authorities of coastal localities. Promoting its core role, the PGB Command has closely cooperated with relevant forces and offices in each period, task and area with importance attached to anticipating the situations in each field. Besides, it has proactively developed projects for coordination and uniform methods to settle the situation at each level as the basis for working with the border guard of Laos to completely handle the issues in the border area, avoiding letting the issues spread and become complex, preventing them from affecting the relationship between the two countries. During the process of coordination, forces have always taken the Border Guard as the centre to maintain smooth, flexible, creative coordination while closely combining border diplomacy with State diplomacy and people-to-people exchange.

Promoting the recorded results, in the upcoming time, the PBG of Ha Tinh will continue to enhance border diplomacy in order to create favourable conditions for flexibly, opportunely, effectively dealing with cases related to border gates and areas, contributing to managing and defending the national border sovereignty and security in the province’s area, strengthening “forever green and sustainable” friendship and solidarity of Vietnam and Laos.

Sr. Col. Vo Trong Hai, Commander of the PGB of Ha Tinh