Border foreign affairs represent an important part of defence diplomacy, not only contributing to firmly safeguarding national sovereignty and border security, but also creating a driving force for building border regions of peace and friendship, cooperation and development. Therefore, this work has been led and implemented by the Party Committee and Command of Ha Giang Border Guards with many synchronous and appropriate solutions to meet the requirements of national construction and defence in the new situation.

Ha Giang, a mountainous province, borders Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China. The province is home to Thanh Thuy international border gate, Xin Man bilateral border gate, over 277 km of border line and many national relics, which is favourable for local socio-economic development. However, in the development process, the province encounters a number of difficulties and challenges, such as: hard mountainous terrain, high percentage of ethnic minorities, uneven educational level; increasingly high requirements of defence, security, foreign affairs and border protection tasks while the Border Guard force is inadequate, scattered, and operate in a wide area, etc.

Fully aware of the situation, over the years, the Party Committee and Command of the Provincial Border Guard have always deeply grasped the views, policies and foreign policies of the Party, State, Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence to well implement the border guard's external affairs, and considered this an important solution to contribute to the protection of security and order in the border areas and national sovereignty; build united and friendly relationships between border guards, local authorities and people on both sides of the border. Therefore, the border guard foreign affairs are being increasingly enhanced; national sovereignty, territory, borders and landmarks are well maintained; political security, social order and safety in border areas are basically stable; the traditional and friendly relationships between localities in the two border regions are strengthened; twinning activities, cultural exchanges, delegation exchanges, visits; immigration, export and import activities are strictly maintained in accordance with law, etc. In the coming time, the high requirements of the task of protecting the Fatherland and the national border in the new situation require the Provincial Border Guard to promote the achieved results; overcome the limitations; closely coordinate with forces to continue promoting foreign affairs, with many synchronous, practical and effective solutions, focusing on the following ones:

Firstly, continuing to educate and thoroughly brief the Party's lines and views on border guard diplomacy for cadres and soldiers. The Party Committee and Command of the Provincial Border Guard continue to thoroughly grasp the above resolutions, directives and instructions on foreign affairs, especially Directive No. 80/CT-BQP, dated April 27/4/2015 of the Ministry of National Defence on strengthening the management of incoming and outgoing delegations; Directive No. 1565/CT-BTL, dated 09/5/2018 of the Commander of the Border Guards on improving the efficiency of foreign affairs in the new situation; Official Dispatch No. 2244/BDBP-TM, dated 11/6/2021 of the Border Guard Command on the effective implementation of the cooperation mechanism with the China’s border guards,.... Along with that, Party committees and commanders of agencies, units and border guard stations should closely coordinate with local departments, branches and mass organisations to promote propaganda and education for cadres, party members, the armed forces and people, especially people in border areas, firmly grasp the guidelines and views of the Party and party committees at all levels on foreign affairs in the new situation, thereby creating a major change in both perception and action.

Secondly, closely coordinating with departments, branches, mass organisations, localities and forces to perform this work. By following the directions and tasks of the above echelons on border diplomacy work, the Provincial Border Guard Command should develop a master plan and advise the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee to direct departments, branches and localities of the province to implement. At the same time, it should promote its role as the core force in managing and protecting sovereignty and border security to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with forces in each locality and area so as to generate a synergy for performing border diplomacy work. In particular, emphasis should be placed on coordinating, exchanging and suggesting to the Party committees and local authorities on the programs, contents and methods to conduct relative visits, exchanges and twinning between districts, communes and villages on both sides of the border.

Direct agencies, units and posts of the border guards to maintain regular contact, exchanges of experience and expertise in foreign affairs with relevant forces; proactively build regulations and mechanisms for information exchange and coordination with agencies, forces and localities in border areas, especially coordination in handling border-related issues. 

Thirdly, consolidating and improving the capacity for the staff involved in border diplomacy work. The Party Committee and Command of the Provincial Border Guard should pay attention to capacity building for this force so that they are capable of fulfilling all assigned tasks. First of all, focus should be placed on restructuring the force conducting border diplomacy to make it consistent and synchronous from the Command Headquarters to agencies and units, especially at the border posts and stations. Moreover, step up training and fostering to improve knowledge and professional capacity for the staff implementing foreign affairs, i.e. their political qualities, ethics, lifestyle and in-depth knowledge, especially foreign languages, knowledge about laws and international practices on borders and border gates, etc. Attach importance to improving their professional skills and predictability so that they are calm, clever, flexible but resolute in handling sensitive situations at the border. In addition, mobilise all resources, have more investments in facilities, materials, equipment and means for conducting foreign affairs, especially IT equipment, modern storage facilities, and specialised equipment with high security, ... to improve the efficiency of border guard foreign affairs.

Finally, improving the efficiency of situation awareness, grasping, analysing and forecasting. Currently, although the border of the province has been fortified by China with solid fences and anti-intrusion devices, illegal border crossings and criminal activities in the border areas still occur. This requires that the Provincial Border Guard grasp and accurately forecast the situation, thereby taking appropriate external measures to cooperate, accurately and effectively handle incidents occurring at both sides of the border. To that end, border guard agencies, units, posts and stations should actively and proactively exchange information, conduct joint patrol with the border guards of China, and coordinate to effectively fight and prevent all kinds of crimes, especially drug-related crimes, human trafficking, illegal immigration, and high-tech crime, not to let hostile and reactionary forces carry out their acts of incitement, distortion, and sabotage. Coordinate with the Customs, the Police and other functional agencies to inspect and control all kinds of imports and exports as well as citizens and equipment entry and exit in accordance with international regulations, agreements and  law. Promote the role of the people, village elders, village heads and religious dignitaries in detecting, fighting and denouncing crimes, contributing to maintaining security, order and social safety in the locality and building the border region of peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual development.

Senior Colonel HOANG NGOC DINH, Commander of the Provincial Border Guard Command