Faced with the requirements of building and defending the Fatherland in the new situation, the armed forces of Can Tho city always stand side by side with the Party committees, authorities and unions at all levels of the city to take care of building the firm "people's heart and mind posture" and consider this one of the key tasks, serving as a foundation for building a strong all-people national defence and defending the Fatherland from afar.

As located in the centre of the Mekong Delta, the trading routes in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle, Ca Mau peninsula, Dong Thap Muoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho city holds an important strategic position in both socio-economic development and defence and security of Military Region 9 and the southern region of the country. Over the years, thoroughly grasping the Party's viewpoint on building "people’s heart and mind posture", the City’s Military Party Committee and Command have promoted their key role in advising the City Party Committee and the People's Committee to lead and direct the promotion of propaganda and education for cadres, party members and people about the Party's guidelines and viewpoints, and the State's policies and laws for the task of Fatherland construction and defence, building an all-people national defence, the all-people’s defence posture, the people's security posture, and the plots and tricks of hostile forces. It has actively renovated and improved the effectiveness of defence and security education for targeted subjects and the entire population. The City's armed forces have regularly paid attention to building strong bases and localities; helped people develop their economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, prevent, combat and overcome consequences of natural disasters and diseases; promoted innovation and improved the efficiency of mass mobilisation work; deployed the "Gratitude return" movement extensively with practical effects, making an important contribution to improving the people's living standards. These actions have made an important contribution to strengthening the people's trust in the Army, the Party, the State and the socialist regime; promoting the will and strength of the people’s great unity bloc, successfully fulfilling the national defence and military targets and tasks and defending the Fatherland.

The inauguration ceremony of local infrastructure completed with the participation of Can Tho armed forces

Currently, besides the advantages, the city still faces difficulties and challenges. In order to contribute to the successful implementation of the goal of building “Can Tho into an ecological, civilised and modern city rich in watery identity of the Mekong Delta, and one of the developed cities in Asia" as stipulated in the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress of the City, 2020-2025 term, the City’s Military Party Committee and Command have advocated strengthening the organisation, building the local armed force "seasoned, compact and strong", with a reasonable structure, high combat readiness; building military agencies at all levels all-strong, promoting the pivotal role in advising and implementing military and defence tasks; building a strong all-people national defence, etc. In particular, building a firm "people's heart and mind posture" is identified as one of the key tasks that should be led and directed thoroughly with many synchronous and effective solutions.

To achieve that goal, first of all, the City Military Party Committee and Command continue to promote education, propaganda and awareness raising for officers, soldiers and people about the meaning and importance of building the "people's heart and mind posture" in the new situation. The contents of education and propaganda are about the Party's viewpoints and lines, the State's policies and laws, and the resolutions, directives and instructions of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on military and defence work, especially the meaning, role, importance, purpose, requirements, and content of building the "people's heart and mind posture". Besides, they enhance education, propaganda to raise awareness for cadres, soldiers and people of all classes about the plots, tricks and methods of "peaceful evolution", riots and subversion of hostile forces; about partners and subjects of the Vietnamese revolution. During the implementation process, the City Military Party Committee and Command directed agencies and units to focus on renovating contents, diversify forms and methods of education and propaganda; closely combine continuing education, thematic education with political events of the country, locality and unit, arousing patriotism and national pride.

Can Tho is home to many tourist sites, places of worship and famous traditional festivals that take place all year round. Taking advantage of that feature, hostile forces step up their subversive activities and illegal propaganda in order to divide the great solidarity bloc, cause separation among religions, and undermine political instability, social order and safety. Inheriting the experience and results achieved over the years, the City Military Party Committee and Command continue to advise and assist the City Party Committee and People's Committee to lead and direct the improvement of the quality of defence and security education and make this an orderly work to achieve practical efficiency. In particular, focus has been placed on leading and directing to consolidate and improve the operational efficiency of the Council for Defence and Security Education at all levels; reviewing and carrying out training plans for subjects according to regulations, especially newly appointed cadres, dignitaries, religious officials, and owners of hotels and boats, etc. Continue to bring into play the functions of the mass media and the contingent of reporters and propagandists in agencies, units and localities to propagate, educate and disseminate defence and security knowledge to the pupils, students and the entire population. Thereby, steady changes have been seen in both awareness and actions of organisations and forces in performing defence and military tasks, and people's vigilance and sense for Fatherland protection have been enhanced.

In addition to the attention paid to education and propaganda, the city's armed forces have also promoted innovation and improved the quality and efficiency of mass mobilisation, helping people to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty, and participate in the construction of local infrastructure. On the basis of thoroughly grasping the Party's resolutions and directives, the State's policies and laws, the orders of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on mass mobilisation work, the city's armed forces actively cooperate closely with local Party committees, authorities, political organisations, socio-political organisations and forces in the area to propose many measures for the implementation of this important task. In the short run, emphasis will be placed on leading and directing the effective participation in national programs and goals on sustainable poverty reduction, building new rural areas and civilised cities. Continue to build and replicate the models of: "Skillful Mass Mobilisation", "Combined Military-Civilian Medicine", "Military and Self-Defense Force cooperates with the Public Security to mobilise people to build security and order barriers", "Developing Party members in the militia and self-defence forces", "Policy dialogue with people with meritorious services to the revolution", in association with promoting the implementation of the Campaign to promote tradition, dedicate talents, deserve the title of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" in the new era; participate in consolidating and improving the quality of militia and self-defence forces and reservists; implement the Regulation on Grassroots Democracy, firmly grasp the situation, coordinate with the local Party committees, authorities and other forces to effectively handle complicated situations, not to let them become "flashpoints", contributing to the protection of the political security, social order and safety in the locality.

In the face of new requirements and tasks of Fatherland protection in general, and developments of defence and security tasks in the area in particular, the City Military Party Committee and Command continue to promote their core role and closely coordinate with the Public Security and other departments, agencies and sectors to carefully appraise master plans, plans and projects for socio-economic development in combination with national defence and security in the area, especially in the focal areas; advise and assist Party committees and authorities at all levels to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of national defence and security through plans, targets and measures for implementation. Regularly review, supplement and perfect documents, combat plans and the plans of Defence mobilisation, People's Air Defence, Preventing and combating floods and storms, search and rescue, and conduct training and drills thoroughly in accordance with regulations. Thereby, the leadership, direction and administration capacity of the Party committees and authorities at all levels, and the commanding level and the coordination level of the local armed forces and agencies, departments and branches in handling defence and security situations have been improved. At the same time, it has promoted the role of Steering Committee 35 and force 47 in resolutely fighting, exposing and defeating the plots, tricks and subversive activities of hostile forces in cyberspace, maintaining "Ideological front", contributing to consolidating and building an increasingly firm "people's heart and mind posture" as a foundation for promoting the strength of the national great unity bloc, successfully realising the cause of building and defending the Fatherland in the new situation.

Senior Colonel PHAM NGOC QUANG, Member of the City’s Party Committee, Political Commissar of the City Military Command