Building strong all-people border defence represents a consistent line of our Party and State and plays a decisive role in the cause of building, managing, and firmly protecting national border sovereignty. As the core force in this regard, the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) of Dien Bien has always attached importance to building robust all-people border defence as the basis for firmly protecting the Fatherland’s North West frontier area.

Thoroughly grasping the Party’s military and defence and Fatherland protection guidelines, particularly the 13^th Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW dated 28 September 2018 on the Strategy for National Border Protection, the Law on National Border, the Law on Vietnam Border Defence, and the Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg dated 9 January 2015 on organising the movement on all people’s participation in protecting territorial sovereignty and border security in the new situation, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command have promoted their core role in coordinating with offices and units to help the Border Guard Force’s Party Committee and High Command, Military Region 2’s Command, the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee design directives, programs, and plans on border defence work and the building of strong all-people border defence.

A joint patrol in the border area between Na Bung Border Guard Post and the militia and self-defence force (photo: dangcongsan.vn)

In recent years, thanks to regard and investments from the Party and State, the province has achieved positive changes in defence and security, socio-economic development, particularly in the border area. Social welfare and ethnicity policies have been effectively carried out; due regard has been paid to infrastructural development and new-style rural area building. The political system across the province has been consolidated. Defence, security, and social order and safety have been ensured. Territorial sovereignty and security in the border area have been maintained. The people’s life has been improved. Ethnic people’s faith has been cemented. To obtain those good results, the PBG has strictly grasped higher echelons’ directives and closely collaborated with departments, sectors, localities, and other units of the armed forces in effectively settling violations of national territorial sovereignty and border security, grasping area, ethnicity, and religion situations to prevent complex incidents in the border area as well as conducting security protection programs for major events of 2024, such as the 70^th Anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory, National Tourism Year - Dien Bien 2024, and Ban Flower Festival of 2024. It has proactively collaborated with border management forces of Vietnam’s neighbours in building and upgrading border gates and trails under the signed regulations and agreements, while giving advice on executing cooperation plans and projects on border gate, economic, and tourism development, thereby fostering socio-economic development in the border area.

However, within the province, hostile forces have taken advantage of issues on “ethnicity”, “religion”, “human rights”, and “democracy” to undermine the national great unity bloc and incite separatism. Crimes of various types, particularly drug crimes, illegal immigration, rural security issues, and non-traditional security challenges (natural disasters and epidemics, etc.) have been still complex and greatly impacted on defence and security tasks in general, the building of all-people border defence in particular. That situation is imposing more demanding requirements on border defence work, necessitating the PBG continuing to promote its core role in this work, via a number of main measures as follows.

First, frequently grasping the Party’s guidelines, the State’s policies, and higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on border defence work. Under the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command will actively, proactively give advice to the Border Guard Force’s Party Committee and High Command, Military Region 2’s Command, the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee on issuing directives and plans for building, managing, and protecting the border, while effectively realising the resolution on border management and protection in the period of 2023 - 2025, border defence work plans, border management and protection plans, and other specialised plans. The PBG will comprehensively, synchronously, flexibly adopt border defence measures, enhance territorial sovereignty management and protection under border-related legal documents and cooperation agreements, regularly maintain patrols along the border and around border gates, and opportunely, effectively deal with incidents relating to territorial sovereignty and border security to avoid falling into passivity. It will proactively grasp the Party’s lines and viewpoints on national border, international cooperation, socio-economic development, the situation from the two sides of the border, and hostile forces’ exploitation of issues on “ethnicity”, “religion”, “democracy”, and “human rights”, closely, flexibly combine specialised and social preventive measures, launch crackdowns on violators of national security and social order with the absolute safety of personnel and weapons, and effectively prevent illegal immigration. It will maintain coordination with other forces to opportunely handle incidents relating to security, order, and rural security in the border area to resolutely prevent “hot spots” from arising.

Second, stepping up propagation and education to raise public awareness and a sense of responsibility among cadres, party members, and citizens towards the building of robust all-people border defence. The PBG will actively disseminate and realise guiding documents for the Law on National Border and the Law on Vietnam Border Defence, encourage the people to take part in national sovereignty, consolidate and build border protection works and border gates. It will grasp climate developments and prepare personnel and means to readily participate in natural disaster, fire, explosion, and forest fire prevention and control and search and rescue in the event. It will strictly maintain combat readiness regulations and exercises, gradually improve command capability and coordination with other forces in border protection and management, ensure personnel, means, and communication in response to situations and incidents, form a closed, inter-connected, in-depth posture in the border area, and continue to build, consolidate, and closely manage combat works and defence land. It will proactively cooperate with sectors, departments, and localities in giving advice to the Provincial People’s Committee on the planning of land border gates between Vietnam and China as well as between Vietnam and Laos.

Third, actively taking part in socio-economic, cultural development in line with defence and security, building strong political bases in the border area. The PBG will actively coordinate with local party committees and authorities and other relevant forces to effectively execute the National Target Program on new-style rural area building, socio-economic development in the ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas, and sustainable hunger eradication and poverty reduction. It will promote the role performed by border guard cadres deployed to districts and communes and party members assigned to attend hamlet-level party cell meetings in giving advice to local party committees and authorities on implementing policies on socio-economic, cultural development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction as well as dealing with incidents opportunely. The PBG’s Party Committee and Command will closely collaborate with border districts and communes in assessing, selecting, and regularly training cadres, while requiring working teams and groups from border guard stations and posts to attend hamlet-level party cell meetings. The PBG will closely coordinate with local party committees and authorities to step up the execution of programs and projects on new-style rural area building, production stabilisation, and socio-economic development, such as Home for the poor in the border area; Accompanying frontier women; Backing children’s schooling; and Soldiers’ jars of rice. It will actively take part in appraising projects on economic development combined with combat work construction within defensive zones, ensuring rural traffic, communication, and health infrastructure, and practically building a “posture of people’s hearts and minds” and strong border area.

Fourth, well conducting the work of border defence diplomacy and building a border of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation, and development. Grasping and effectively applying the Party’s foreign lines, the PBG will continue to give advice to the Border Guard Force’s Party Committee and High Command, the Provincial Party Committee, and the Provincial People’s Committee on issuing documents of leadership and direction over diplomatic work. It will develop special friendship and comprehensive cooperation relations with provinces of Northern Laos, while maintaining and fostering relations with China’s Yunnan province. In cooperation with border management forces of Vietnam’s neighbours, it will regularly organise meetings in the border area, establish communication via hot lines, take part in joint patrols for protecting the border and national border markers and dealing with landslides along the border, and maintain joint effort to control immigration via border gates and trails. It will intensify situational exchange and the fight against cross-border crimes, free migration, and non-traditional security challenges, hold refresher courses for border guard cadres of Laos, and organise the people’s annual culture and art exchange programs in the border area. It will cooperate with competent offices in giving advice to the province on upgrading A Pa Chai - Long Phu trail (Vietnam - China border) into a border gate to create a favourable condition for local people along the border of the two countries to foster socio-economic development, maintain defence and security, and build a border of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation, and development.

Sr. Col. PHAN VAN HOA

Commander of the PBG of Dien Bien