Kon Tum is a mountainous, border province holding a position of strategic importance in the Central Highlands. Thus, over the past years, the province has taken various measures to make the national border line in the area strong, prosperous, and firm in defence and security, contributing to strengthening solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and other countries.

Kon Tum province has a 292.522-km-long border line, bordering the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia, possessing the international border gate of Bo Y. Its border line is located in 4 districts, including 13 communes and 106 villages with a population of nearly 60,000 people from 21 ethnic communities, 78.28% of them are ethnic minorities.  The people in the border area have revolutionary tradition and abide by the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, and local party committees and authorities’ leadership and management, being highly responsible for national territory and border management and protection. However, the economic development in the border area is still slow, the people’s living standard is low, and the rate of poor households is high. This is the area where the hostile forces are stepping up their sabotage plan, particularly inciting the ethic minority people in the remote, isolated area to join the FULRO’s separatist and autonomous movement. In this area, the illegal religious activities and missionary work, and crime of all types have complex developments while there are potential factors destabilizing political security and social order. Against that backdrop, the province has adopted many measures to build the border area strong comprehensively as the basis for its comprehensive development.

First, the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee have directed sectors, forces and localities, particularly 4 border districts and the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) to propagate, introduce, and implement resolutions and directives by the Party and State on building and defending national border sovereignty and security. Focuses of propagation have been placed on the Resolutions of the Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenums (11^th and 12^th tenure) on the Homeland defence Strategy in the new situation, the Prime Minister’s Directive on furthering direction over socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation in sea, island, border communes, the National Border Law, the Decree 34/NĐ-CP on the Land Border Regulations and the Decree 32/NĐ-CP on land border gate Regulations in accordance with each group of objects and each area.

To lay a solid foundation for defending the border, the province has focused on boosting socio-economic development and strengthening defence-security and diplomacy in the border area. Following the 11^th Politburo’s Directive 46-CT/TW, dated June 22^nd 2015 on enhancing the Party’s leadership over security and order maintenance in the new situation and the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 16-NQ/TW, dated October 10^th 2017 on socio-economic development in line with defence-security and diplomacy consolidation in the land border communes, the Provincial Party Executive Committee issued the Plan 95-KH/TU, dated September 11^th 2015 and the Plan 51-KH/TU, dated February 2^nd 2018 to direct the process. Those Plans advocate that socio-economic development in the border communes is also the investment in defence-security and the responsibility of the whole political system, particularly local party committees and authorities. According to those Plans, the province would closely combine socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation, settle the relationships between economic growth and defence-security consolidation and between cultural preservation and environment protection in the border area, and finish arranging residential areas along the border.

To that end, the province has mobilized resources and prioritized the programs to combine socio-economic development with defence-security, built strong political bases in the border area, planned and disposed residential areas along the border, and accelerated the programs for infrastructure, economic, cultural and social development, such as electricity, roads, schools, clinics, border gate economic zones, roads to the border gate, and border patrol road, etc. Notably, following the Government’s Decision on establishing a new district named Ia H’Drai and 3 new communes named Ia Dom, Ia Toi, and Ia Dal, the province has directed departments, committees, sectors, localities and the PBG to coordinate the Project to make the district of Ia H’Drai economically strong and firm in defence-security in line with the province’s master plan for socio-economic development. At the same time, it has actively tapped resources to implement the Project on resettlement along the border, the master plan for the border districts’ administrative centres, residential areas, handicraft villages, and functional areas along the national highway 14C. To improve the effectiveness of hunger eradication and poverty reduction, the province has directed 14 offices and units to sponsor 13 border communes, recommending 45 offices and units both inside and outside the province to twin with 17 units of the PBG under the Provincial Party Committee’s Resolution 04-NQ/TU, promoting the core role of the PBG in taking part in socio-economic development and helping the people with hunger eradication and poverty reduction, new rural development, and removal of depraved customs.

A part from socio-economic development, the province has attached importance to consolidating the system of political bases, strictly implementing the Regulations on coordination between the Party Committees of 4 border districts and the PBG’s Party Committee and between the party committees of border communes and those of border posts as well as effectively executing the regulations and programs on coordination between local sectors and organizations and the PBG at each level. Over the past years, the PBG has dispatched its cadres to work at the border communes, introduced party members of the border posts into village party cells, and organized hundreds of groups of mass mobilization. Besides, the province has directed the Military, the Public Security, and the PBG to effectively implement the Government’s Decree 77/2010/NĐ-CP and formulate regulations and plans on exchanging the information, grasping the situation, maintaining combat readiness, and improving their capability to counsel and propose guidelines, strategies and projects to deal with the situations in border management and protection as well as the fight against crime of all types, particularly narcotics-related crime, smuggling, trade frauds, illegal border crossing, and violations of the regulations on the border and border gates.

In addition, significance has been attached to encouraging the people’s role in building the all-people border defence and the posture of all-people border defence associated with the posture of all-people national defence and people’s security. Emphasis has been placed on stepping up the movement of the masses’ participation in self-controlling the border line and boundary markers and maintaining villages and hamlets’ security and order. The province has directed the border districts and the PBG in the area to raise the quality of people-to-people exchange and diplomatic ties with the authorities and border guard forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The province has soon accomplished the task of border demarcation between Vietnam and Cambodia in its area, consolidated the system of border markers along the border between Vietnam and Laos, twinned the border posts under the PBG with Lao border guard force, thereby cementing the solidarity and friendship, building the border of peace, stability, and cooperation for development.

With the effort and resolve of the whole political system and people, the situation in the province’s border area have been always stable while border security and social order have been safeguarded. The political system in border localities has been consolidated. Investments have been made in socio-economic infrastructure while the people’s life in the border area has improved. Up to now, 100% of border communes have had sufficient roads, medical stations, radio speakers, and schools. However, due to the province’s economic difficulties, the investment in its border communes is still limited, economic development has yet to match its potential and strengths, the ethnic minorities’ living standard is low, there have remained potential factors that could destabilize political security and social order.

Promoting the recorded results and experience to the increasingly prosperous and strong border area, the Provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and People’s Committee will continue to grasp and stringently implement directives and resolutions by the Party and State on building and protecting the national border sovereignty and security. Focuses will be placed on accelerating the programs/projects for socio-economic development combined with defence-security consolidation in line with the particularities of the province’s border area; on encouraging potential and advantages to develop trade, services, and tourism as well as creating a favourable condition for attracting investment to achieve a breakthrough in economic development. At the same time, it will synchronously take measures to plan and stabilize intensive production zones and settlement zones for the locals and the people from other regions as well as develop key economic zones in the border area. Besides, it will promote the synergy of the whole political system, strengthen the national great unity block, and build the all-people national defence and the posture of all-people national defence associated with the people’s security and the posture of people’s security. It will focus its leadership and direction on effectively executing the national target programs on crime prevention and combat in the border area and making the PBG comprehensively strong and capable of playing the core role in managing and protecting the border sovereignty and security. It will direct localities, departments, sectors and forces to enhance the work of coordination and the effectiveness of the movement of the masses’ participation in self-controlling and protecting the border line and markers, and strengthen diplomatic ties with the authorities and border guard forces of the two neighbours as the basis for safeguarding the national border sovereignty and security, building the border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development, contributing to defending the Homeland from afar.

Nguyen Van Hoa

Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee