Besides the Socio-economic Development Strategy, the Resolution of the 8th Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on “Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland in the New Situation” is regarded as one of the most fundamental strategies of Vietnamese revolution aimed to successfully accomplish the two strategic tasks, namely national construction and defence. The Party Central Committee’s review of 10 years’ implementation of the Resolution will make a vital contribution to formulation of an overall strategy to safeguard the Fatherland in the new situation, especially in the evolving region and world.

The Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland is a national strategy for protecting the country and provides a solid foundation for developing specialised national strategies such as defence strategy, military strategy, national security strategy, and strategies in other aspect of social life.

The Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (9th tenure) and its successor - the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) – have given correct, objective assessments of situations in the world, region, and country and clearly identified goals and guiding viewpoints, most notably the consistent, scientific viewpoints on partners of cooperation and objects of struggle of Vietnamese revolution. At the same time, the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) has set out six missions and solutions, including enhancing quality of Party building, protecting the Party, strengthening internal political security, building the law-governed socialist state; developing economy in close conjunction with ensuring defence, security, and good settlement of social issues; establishing and developing an advanced culture deeply imbued with national identity, developing and improving quality of information activity and propagation; consolidating and bringing into play the strength of the great national unity bloc; strengthening the all-people national defence and people’s security, building strong people’s armed forces with high combat power; synchronously and comprehensively pursuing the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, proactive and active international integration, creating an international environment conducive to the cause of national construction and defence.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Head of the Steering Committee for the Project on "Reviewing 10 years implementation of the 8th Resolution of the Party (11th tenure) speaks about the project

Over the past 10 years, although peace, cooperation, and development have been the mainstream, the world and region continue to witness many complex, unforeseeable developments. Our country faces many difficulties and great challenges. Hostile forces intensify their acts of destruction. Disputes over waters and islands potentially lead to instability. Nontraditional security issues, especially natural disasters, environmental catastrophes, and diseases, are on the rise. It is within this context that the entire Party, people, and military always stay united and make a concerted effort to successfully implement the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on the Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland in the New Situation. We have firmly protected independence, sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity of the country; defended the Party, State, people, and socialist regime; safeguarded political security, social order and safety, and culture; upheld political stability and a peaceful environment for national building and development in the socialist direction. Economic capability, prestige, and position of the country in the international arena are ceaselessly enhanced. The all-people national defence and people’s security are strengthened. Integrated quality and combat power of the armed forces, as well as overall strength of the country are greatly promoted. Nevertheless, there remain certain limitations as compared with requirements and missions of national defence in the new situation. Those limitations are exposed in terms of awareness of the mission to safeguard the Fatherland since peacetime, combining socio-economic development with strengthening of national defence and security, building provincial, municipal defensive zones, combat strength of the armed forces in high-tech warfare, State military strength, overall power to safeguard the Fatherland, and so on.

Therefore, the review of 10 years’ implementation of the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) needs to grasp and follow closely guideline and direction of the Party and Central Military Commission about objectives and requirements to be fulfilled. On such a basis, it is necessary to focus on appraisal of the global, regional, and national situation in the past 10 years, achievements, shortcomings, and weaknesses, as well as causes of these achievements, shortcomings, and weaknesses, most notably those relating to leadership, direction, and implementation. After that, there needs to work out directions, contents, and strategic solutions to the coming years, ensuring their close alignment with situation, theoreticalness, practicality, feasibility, etc., meeting requirements and missions of national defence and construction in the new situation.

The Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland in the New Situation consists of many contents, including objectives, guidelines, guiding principles, missions, and solutions. The review must be conducted comprehensively from grassroots level, in all branches, at all levels with a focus on defence, security, and diplomacy. It is necessary to concentrate on six missions and solutions. In each mission and solution, there needs to assess the grasp and application of objectives, guidelines, guiding principles. At the same time, special importance must be attached to key issues and contents which have had new developments as well as burning social issues in the past 10 years.

Accordingly, as for the mission and solution to increased quality of Party building, defence of the Party, protection of internal political security, and building of a law-governed socialist state, it is necessary to seriously appraise quality of realising the Resolution of the 4th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on “Some pressing issues about Party building currently,” quality of cadre work and cultivation of a corps of cadres, especially those at the strategic level, and the role of party committees and leading cadres. Attention must be also focused on reviewing the building of legal system, State building and management by law. More importantly, there needs to review quality of building the political system at grassroots level, outcomes of the struggle to prevent and combat corruption and shortcomings, and results of the struggle to prevent and push back “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” within the Party.

Regarding the mission and solution to economic development in close connection with strengthening of national defence and security and good settlement of social issues, it is necessary to conduct an overall assessment of the national economy, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of the economy as material foundation of national defence, security, and improvement in quality of people’s life. There also need to undertake an objective, honest review of the Party’s major guideline on combining socio-economic development with strengthening of national defence and security. Attention must be focused on appraising awareness and implementation, especially those of the relationship between economic interests and national defence and security interests. As far as economic-defence zones are concerned, there needs to correctly assess building quality and their value to national defence in strategic areas, remote areas, hinterland, border areas, waters, and islands.

As for the establishment and development of an advanced culture deeply imbued with national identity; development and increased quality of information activities and propagation; recognition of culture as the spiritual foundation for the society, it is necessary to clearly evaluate the importance of restoration and development of national cultural traditions to people’s spirit and ideology from various walks of life, arousing the nationalist aspirations for building a prosperous, happy country. There needs to appraise the selected acquisition of the quintessence of human culture and the struggle against negative influence of malicious, miscellaneous culture on young generation currently. Review of information activities and propagation must be focused on propagation quality and effectiveness of the Party’s guidelines, State’s policies and law, and fine values of the nation; capacity for social criticism; and quality of struggling against hostile forces’ false allegations and signs of commercialisation of press activity and communication.

Regarding the mission and solution to consolidation and leverage of the great national unity bloc, it is necessary to clearly evaluate the role of party committees at all levels in the Fatherland Front and people’s unions as well as quality and operational effectiveness of these organisations currently at grassroots level, especially in implementation of the Regulation on grassroots democracy and participation in preventing and combating shortcomings, bureaucracy, violation of people’s right to mastery.

As for the mission and solution to firm strengthening of the all-people national defence and people’s security and building of robust people’s armed forces with high combat strength, there needs to comprehensively review the building of capabilities, forces, and posture of the all-people national defence and people’s security. Accordingly, attention should be focused on assessing the political-spiritual potential; building of “people’s heart and mind posture”; economic, defence, and security strength; State military strength; building of the all-people force; and building of the all-people defence posture in connection with the people’s security posture. Regarding the building of people’s armed forces, especially Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), there needs to appraise military building in terms of politics, ideology, organisation, morality, and cadre; building of an adept, compact, strong military with some forces advancing straight to modernity; organisation, staffing, weapons, and technical equipment; training, combat readiness, and so on. It is also necessary to undertake review of the VPA’s combat strength, especially the combat strength as compared with today’s requirements and missions of defending the Fatherland; ability to conduct combat operations at sea, on offshore islands, and in border areas; ability to conduct operations in cyberspace, high-tech wars, and so forth.

As far as the mission and solution in terms of diplomacy, there needs to clearly evaluate the role of defence and security diplomacy in preserving a peaceful, stable environment for national construction and development; pursuing peaceful resolution of contradictions and divergences. The role of diplomacy and defence diplomacy in developing potential, forces, and defence and security posture outside the country to safeguard the Fatherland from afar should be also appraised.

The review of 10 years’ implementation of the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11th tenure) on Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland in the New Situation provides a vital foundation for formulating a strategy for the time to come. Consequently, levels, branches, and localities must deeply grasp the above-mentioned key points with the aim of addressing limitations while ensuring suitability for new conditions, especially situation in the world, region, and country. More importantly, recent armed conflicts in the world must be correctly assessed in order to foresee the emergence of a new world order and its influence on the world, region, and Viet Nam and propose the most logical solutions to firmly protect the socialist Fatherland of Viet Nam in any situation.

Lieutenant General, Associate Professor, Doctor Tran Thai Binh