Over the past years, the Provincial Military Party Committee (PMPC) of Khanh Hoa has always focused on leading and effectively carrying out the military-defence work, laying a solid foundation for maintaining political stability and facilitating the province’s socio-economic development and international integration.

Khanh Hoa province possesses a long coastline, over 200 islands, and Nha Trang Bay – one of 29 most beautiful bays in the world. Grounded on those advantages, over the past years, under the leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, the province has boosted the socio-economic development, strengthened its defence and security, and unceasingly improved its people’s life. However, the province’s area has potential unpredictable destabilizing factors, such as hostile figures and political opportunists who take advantage of weaknesses in the locality to step up their sabotage plans, denunciations and complaints related to site clearance and land dispute. Besides, while the number of foreign tourists to the province has increased suddenly, measures for the management have yet to be effective, thereby negatively impacting on the political security and social order in the area.

Against that backdrop, the PMPC has directed units and localities to well perform the work of providing defence and security education for all objects. This is a matter of paramount importance aimed at raising the awareness and responsibility of cadres, party members and all people towards the cause of strengthening national defence and protecting the Homeland. Over the past time, several localities and units have paid insufficient regard to this important work, thus enabling political opportunists to encourage incitement and distortion as well as undermine the people’s faith in the Party, the State, and local party committees and authorities. Therefore, the PMPC has focused on grasping the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and directives and resolutions by the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on the defence-security work, particularly the 10^th Politburo’s Directive 12-CT/TW, the Government’s Decree 116/2007/NĐ-CP, the Defence and Security Education Law. In addition, the province has regularly consolidated and improved the effectiveness of operation of the Councils for Defence and Security Education at all levels, while developing the regulations on operation and education plans in accordance with each group of objects. Focuses of education have been placed on the Party’s political and military guidelines, the task of protecting the Homeland’s sea and island sovereignty, local political situation, and policies on combining socio-economic development with defence-security and building defensive zones as well as on hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and the impacts on the province’s stability and development. At the same time, significance has been attached to clarifying the rights, obligations and responsibilities of citizens towards the tasks of protecting the Homeland, maintaining political security and social order, and facilitating the province’s rapid and sustainable economic development.

Moreover, the province has given priority to providing defence and security education for students, prestige persons of clans, dignitaries, ship owners, and fishermen via various approaches. As a result, the awareness and responsibility of sectors and people towards this work have been raised while their vigilance against the hostile forces’ plots and artifices has been heightened. 

Furthermore, the province has concentrated on building basic, inter-connected, solid defensive zone. At present, the province has 9 districts, towns and cities, including Truong Sa island district and Cam Ranh city which hold strategic positions. Its terrain is complex and split into parts, namely coastal area, plain, urban area, midland, and mountainous area. Thus, building the province’s inter-connected, solid defensive zone is a matter of utmost importance. Grasping the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW and the Government’s 152/2007/ NĐ-CP on the defensive zones, the PMPC has advised the Provincial Party Committee on issuing the Action Program 27-CTr/TU to build Khanh Hoa province into a basic, inter-connected, solid defensive zone in the new situation. Based on those documents, the province has built the strong defensive zone comprehensively in terms of potential, force and posture. The building and operation of the defensive zone have been placed under̉ the all-level party committee’s uniform leadership and the all-level authorities’ management and operation while the Provincial Military Command (PMC) has cooperated with the Public Security, the Border Guard, and local sectors and organizations in counselling and performing the tasks. Annually, the PMC has advised the Provincial Party Committee on releasing directives on leading the local military-defence missions, stressing that the building and operation of the defensive zone is a task of central importance to the local task performance. The PMC has directed all-level military offices to counsel local party committees and authorities to closely combine economic development with defence consolidation and build the posture of all-people national defence associated with the postures of people’s security and all-people border defence in the areas, particularly key, sea and island ones. At the same time, it has cooperated with local sectors in appraising and supervising the planning of socio-economic development projects in the areas to ensure that those projects are closely connected with the military posture in the defensive zone and meet the requirements of defence-security missions in all situations. It has worked with the province’s departments and sectors to counsel the adjustment of the Plan for socio-economic development in line with defence-security consolidation in the 2011-2020 period. Moreover, the PMPC has directed districts and cities to enhance the defensive zone exercises under the mechanism of the Party’s leadership, the authority’s operation, and the office’s counselling, thereby promoting the synergy of sectors and political system to build the defensive zone and protect the area and the Homeland sea and island sovereignty.

To encourage the effectiveness of operation of the militia and self-defence forces and the reserve forces, the PMPC has ordered units and localities to review and strengthen the militia and self-defence forces both qualitatively and quantitatively, particularly to build the model coastal militia and self-defence units and the self-defence units in foreign-invested enterprises. Due attention has been paid to building the reserve forces,  closely managing and sufficiently staffing reserve units in line with the operating areas.

In addition, the province has directed the all-level military offices to effectively execute the Regulations on coordination between the Military, Public Security and Border Guard forces under the Government’s Decree 77/2010/NĐ-CP; to give advice to local party committees and authorities on measures to deal with the issues arising from reality, especially on the islands and in the key areas, thus achieving a sense of unity among the people, building a firm posture of “people’s hearts and minds”, promoting the strength of the whole political system to boost the province’s comprehensive development.

Great importance has been attached to building the province’s armed forces as the core in conducting the military-defence work. The PMPC has focused on making the province’s armed forces strong politically, ideologically and organizationally; on renewing the content, format, and method to provide political, ideological education, and legal propagation, dissemination and education, and introduce the task to all objects; on well executing the Project on “renewing units’ political education in the new period”. Those have helped making objects fully understand difficulties in the performance of the military-defence work in the area and build up their will and determination to fulfil their responsibilities and tasks. Besides, it has well carried out the work of orientating cadres and troops’ ideology and raising their awareness of the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and the Military’s task as well as maintaining their vigilance against the “peaceful evolution” strategy and tricks of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” by the hostile forces. Great value has been attached to carrying out the work of training and combat readiness, opportunely supplementing and adjusting the operational documents and plans, strictly maintaining the order for practice. The training work has been conducted under the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp, synchronization, specialization” in accordance with each office and unit’s task. The organizational structure of the province’s armed forces has been made “compact and strong”, with priority given to staffing the units tasked with combat readiness, combat, training, manoeuvre, ensuring the protection of localities in all situations. At the same time, the PMPC has directed units at all levels to step up troop management, discipline maintenance, and military administrative reform, and resolutely overcome weaknesses. As a result, the synergy and the combat power of the provincial armed forces have been enhanced; the provincial armed forces have become a reliable crutch of local party committees, authorities and people in all situations.

In the upcoming time, the PMPC will continue directing the armed forces to further encourage the people to well perform the military-defence missions to contribute to developing Khanh Hoa province in economic, cultural, defence and security fields.

Sr. Col. Trinh Viet Thanh. Standing Deputy Secretary of the PMPC, Commissar of the PMC