The cooperation, synergy, solidarity and strong bond between the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army are not only an invaluable tradition, but also an objective requirement as well as a matter of principle in the cause of national defence, and have been attached with great importance by the two forces. In the face of the requirements and tasks of safeguarding the Motherland in the new period, the two forces need to continue to enhance coordination with uniformed solutions to ensure both external and internal security, and the sustainable development of the country.

Thanks to the leadership of our Party and the teaching of our beloved Uncle Ho that “The People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army are the two arms of the People, the Party, the Government and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Therefore, the two forces must maintain a strong bond and help each other”, during the course of our revolution, the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army have always stood shoulder to shoulder to work together to successfully complete all tasks assigned by the Party, the State and the People, making an important contribution to the cause of building and safeguarding the Socialist Vietnam Motherland.

The organic, unified and reciprocal relationship between national security and national defence has been expressed by our Party in the combination of the people’s security posture and power and those of people’s national defence. The issue of coordination between defence and security in terms of force organisation, capability building, posture building and practical operations is of particular interest to the Party and State in the implementation of the Strategy for the Fatherland Protection. The Resolution of the 11th National Party Congress stated that: “The disposition of national defence and security posture must be in accordance to the new situation. National defence and security must be linked together. National defence and security must be closely combined with economic development in each area, in the planning of projects and programmes”. The reality of the revolutionary cause of the Party and our nation shows that, "The tasks of the Public Security Force and the Army and cannot be separated because they both have the common purpose of safeguarding the Motherland and the people's security. In the process of implementing these tasks, it is necessary to strengthen the solidarity between the Public Security Force and the Army, and this is a matter of principle. The Army’s main task is to fight external threats, and the main task of the Public Security Force is to deal with enemies inside. These two tasks can neither be separated nor divided in a rigid manner. This is a matter of principle which has been consistently upheld throughout the course of safeguarding the Motherland of the two armed forces, namely: the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army.

In recent years, the Party’s guidelines and principles and the State’s policies and legislations, especially the Government’s decrees on the coordination between the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army in performing the task of safeguarding the Motherland have been thoroughly grasped and realised, therefore the cooperation between the two forces has been increasingly active and effective, resulting in many all-round successes. The two armed forces have actively grasped the defence – security environment, regularly exchanged, checked and verified information to assess and forecast of national defence and security situation to be able to identify early risks and threats to our national interests and sovereignty; promptly advised the Party and State many important and strategic guidelines and solutions in the fields of politics, economy, culture, society, national defence, security and foreign affairs; properly, and flexibly and effectively handled national defence and security contingencies. The People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army have also actively worked together in protecting national sovereignty, maintaining security and public order in our border areas, islands and sovereign waters, fighting crimes, performing the work of public relation, building all-people security and national defence posture; developing plans to deal with illegal gatherings and protests that may lead to social unrests and terrorist attacks; effectively resolving complicated security matters, ensuring absolute safety for high valuable targets and important political, cultural and diplomatic events of the country as well as international conferences held in Vietnam. The results of the cooperation between the two forces have made special contribution in firmly protecting the Motherland’s independence, unity, and territorial integrity; the Party, the State, the People and the socialist regime, the cause of industrialising, modernising and renewing the country, national interests; political security, public order and public safety; as well as maintaing political stability and peaceful environment to build and develop the country according to the socialist orientation.

In the coming time, the task of defending the Motherland enjoys many advantages, but also has to face many challenges and difficulties. The strategic competition between major powers is spreading toward South East Asia, directly threatening our independent, self-determination foreign policy. Countries in the region, including Vietnam, may be affected by the rivalry of major powers. The developments of non-traditional security matters have increasingly become more complex, threatening the security of not only our country, but also the region and the world. Additionally, internal negative factors have increased, placing high demands for the task of protecting the Party, the State, the People and the socialist regime. Adversary forces have also intensified with the strategy of “Peaceful Evolution”, rioting and subversion, and promoting “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” inside our rank in an attempt to remove the leadership role of our Party and the socialist regime in Vietnam. They resort to every tricks to neutralise our armed forces – the core force in the cause of protecting the Motherland; and to incite the division between the People and the Party, the State, between the Army and the Public Security Force, etc.

These issues pose an urgent need to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation between the People's Public Security Force and the People's Army; making the coordination relationship between the two forces deeper and deeper, and more and more substantive and effective, creating all-out strength to defeat potential invaders as well as neutralise all internal challenges and threats. To do that, it is necessary to focus on effectively implementing the following approaches:

Ensure the absolute, direct and comprehensive leadership of the Party, directly the Central Public Security Commission and the Central Military Commission, and the centralised and unified management and administration of the State over the cooperation between the two armed forces in performing the task of safeguarding the Motherland. This immutable principle ensures that the two forces always operate with the right political orientation, uphold the revolutionary nature of the working class, and pledge absolute loyalty to the Motherland, the Party, the State and the People and stick together for the goal of firmly safeguarding the Socialist Vietnam Motherland. Therefore, in any circumstances, the absolute, direct and comprehensive leadership of the Party over the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army must be maintained. Besides, the cooperation between the two armed forces must be thoroughly demonstrated from local to central levels, in which local commands must be placed under the leadership and the management and administration of of the corresponding Party Committees and local authorities. Also, the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army must proactively advise the Party and the State in reforming leadership, direction, management and administration mechanisms in carrying out the cause of safeguarding the Motherland; and recommend solutions and measures to institutionalise the Party’s principles and guidelines into legislations and regulations on the coordination between the two forces and organise coordination in realising national defence and security tasks. Additionally, the two armed forces must continue to improve working mechanisms, further define the roles and responsibilities of the Party committees and commanding boards of the People’s Army and the People’s Public Security Force units in leading and direct the coordination in carrying out national defence and security tasks in accordance to each unit’s assigned task.

Regularly train and educate the members the two armed forces to improve their awareness and sense of responsibility in coordinating to perform the task of safeguarding the Motherland. The two forces must actively reform their education and training contents, programs, and methods in disseminating legal knowledge on national defence and security, making their members deeply aware of the meaning, significance and necessity of their cooperation and coordination in performing the task of safeguarding the Motherland. They must also focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of national defence and security education for other subjects. The main focuses are educating on the Party’s new views and thinkings on the task of safeguarding the Motherland in the current phase of the revolution; and promoting a common awareness in the two forces about the comprehension of the work of protecting the Motherland, which is not limited to only external protection (border, national territory), but also internal security (maintaining political stability). Therefore, the two forces must understand that their duty is not only fighting to defend the country when there is a foreign invasion, but also preparing defence and other preventive measures in advance from afar, and proactively taking actions to defeat “peaceful evolution” and subversive plots of adversary forces. At the same time, they must associate these works with the enhancement of defence and security capability. Especially, members of the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army must be educated on the contents and measures stipulated in the Government’s Decree No. 03/2019/ND-CP, dated September 5, 2019 on the coordination between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence in performing the tasks of protecting national security, ensuring social order and safety, fighting and preventing crimes, and national defence, thus they can have a clear understanding on the plots and tricks that adversary forces may use to sabotage our revolutionary cause, especially the plots to make our armed forces “apolitical”, and divide the bond and the tradition of unity between the two forces in order to cause internal rifts, undermining our security and national defence capability.  

In coordinating with each other, the two armed forces must strictly follow principles and maintain solidarity and unity in leading, directing, and coordinating in combat operations from central to grassroot level and ensure the element of secrecy of the forces, means and professional measures of each force. The People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army are the two key and fundamental components of the people’s armed forces, sharing the same goal of safeguarding the Socialist Motherland. However, each force has its own functions, tasks, organisation, structure, means, and operational methods. Therefore, in the process of coordination to perform the tasks of national defence and security, the two forces must strictly follow their own force building and operation principles on the basis of thoroughly understanding and implementing resolutions, decrees, directives and legal documents of the Party and the State on coordination work. The main focuses are Decree No. 03/2019/ND-CP; and Decree No. 78/2011/ND-CP, dated September 1, 2011 of the Government regulating the coordination between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence in organising the implementation of fire prevention and fighting work for defence facilities; and Decree No. 06/2007/ND-CP, dated January 12, 2007 of the Government on coordination between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence in directing and guiding the Border Guard and the Public Security Force in ensuring security, public order and social safety in border areas, etc. Only in this way can we ensure the enhancement of the coordination and cooperation between the two armed forces, creating all-out strength to fulfill the common goal of firmly defending the Motherland in all situations, at the same time maintaining solidarity and unity between the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army to let them successfully complete the assigned political tasks of each branch.

Promote the inspection, direction, implementation and evaluation of the coordination work between the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army in performing national defence and security tasks. On the basis of thoroughly understanding and implementing resolutions and decrees of the Party and the State on the coordination work, strategic agencies of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence must further concretise the details of their coordination activities with regulations and plans suitable to the characteristics of each region and locality; clarify the responsibilities of each force and mechanisms for commanding, directing, mobilising and employing forces and means; regularly review, make amendments and suplement coordination plans appropriate to situation developments and the changes in the tasks of each force. These agencies must also increase the inspection, guidance and implementation of the coordination work at all levels; quickly draw lessons from mistakes, weaknesses, loopholes and shortcomings, etc, in information sharing and situation assessment.

Besides, the two forces must also focus on reviewing and evaluating the results of coordination works in all fields, at all levels to draw lessons from practical activities; and supplementing and developing theories to improve the quality and effectiveness of coordination work for the next phase.

Additionally, units and individuals with excellent performance in coordination work must be rewarded in a timely manner to further strengthen the traditional bond between the People’s Public Security Force and the People’s Army. These are the fundamental solutions to generate the inner strength in the coordinative relationship between the two forces – the a key factor in successfully performing the task of building and safeguarding the Motherland in the new situation.

Senior Lieutenant General LUONG TAM QUANG, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of Central Public Security Commission, Deputy Minister of Public Security