Ky Khang Border Station, directly under  Ha Tinh Provincial Border Guards, is tasked with managing and protecting the sovereignty and security of a part of the sea borderline of the Central of Vietnam and five coastal communes of Ky Anh district and Ky Anh town with 32.5 km of coastline, 9,363 hectares of area​​, and 12,056 households, of which the percentage of Catholic people accounting for 16.1%. The feature shows that this area is rich in potential but also implies risks of security and stability. Particularly, on the coastline under the Station’s management and protection, the infringement of sovereignty of foreign vessels, illegal fishing activities, fishing ground dispute, smuggling, and commercial frauds  tend to increase with complicated developments. Coastal communes are underdeveloped as the people's socio-economic conditions are still poor with low income per capita and high poverty rate. Taking advantage of such difficulties and the Party and State’s implementation of the policy on payment and compensation for marine environmental disasters in the four Central provinces (related to FORMOSA Company), hostile forces have colluded with a number of religious leaders and extremists to incite people to petition and claim, which has harmed the local political security and social order and safety.

In that context, the Station’s Party Committee and commanders have promoted the pivotal role in coordinating closely with the local Party committees, authorities, and the related forces in deploying all aspects of work with several comprehensive and drastic measures to promptly and effectively handle incidents, firmly protect the sovereignty and security of the assigned sea borderline, maintain the political stability and social order and safety, and contribute to the local  socio-economic construction and development. Thanks to great achievements, the Station has been granted with noble rewards by the Provincial Border Guard Command, and the Party Committees and authorities of Ha Tinh province, Ky Anh district, and Ky Anh town, which has been an important driving force for the Station to overcome difficulties and successfully accomplish its assigned tasks. From such results, the Station has drawn following experience lessons as well as solutions to perform the task in the coming time.

Firstly, it is necessary to take initiative in advising and organizing the effective implementation of undertakings and measures to build a solid all-people border-guard posture to create the basis for the protection and maintenance of sovereignty and security of the sea border. Thoroughly grasping the Party’s viewpoints on defending the Motherland and on the basis of firmly grasping the local characteristics and the  assigned functions and tasks, the Station’s Party Committee and commanders have actively advised the Provincial Border Guard Party Committee and Command and the Party committees and authorities of Ky Anh district and Ky Anh town with policies on protecting the sovereignty and security of the sea borderline under the motto of "accuracy, properness, timeliness, and effectiveness". The advising contents have been focused on elaborating and promulgating complete, synchronous, and timely systems of documents, directives, and instructions as well as action plans and programs for strengthening the management and protection of the sovereignty and security of the assigned sea zones. Concurrently, the concerned forces have been closely coordinated with in assisting the local Party committees and authorities in building and perfecting the plans and options for protection of political security of sea and islands, natural disaster prevention and control, search and rescue, and building a strong political foundation, all-people border-guard posture in association with the local solid all-people defense posture and people's security posture. On that basis, several measures have been implemented to prevent and combat crimes and violations of the country's territorial waters and propagandize and educate the local people to abide the Marine Law and local regulations and rules and bring into full play the people’s responsibilities in managing and protecting the marine sovereignty and security.

Secondly, great importance should be regularly attached to studying, assessing, and grasping the local situation. This is the key factor for the Station to accomplish its assigned political tasks, especially the elaboration and adjustment of plans and options for management and protection of the marine sovereignty and security in an accurate and scientific manner to timely and effectively handle incidents. Therefore, in the past years, the Station’s Party Committee and commanders have directed the subordinate units to regularly follow the grassroots to flexibly and diversely apply border guard professional forms and measures to collect information and analyze and assess the situation on all aspects of social life with focus placed on key, difficult, complicated, and religious areas. In particular, much attention has been paid to measures to build the local foundation, stick to the grassroots, and conduct briefings and  security experience drawing among clusters. Besides, special importance has been attached to combining the work of mass mobilization with situation grasping. An important solution is that propaganda and advocacy, on the one hand, will make people confident in providing information and denouncing crimes, which is an important basis for the Station’s development of plans for effective prevention and combat of crimes. On the other hand, it also encourages the people to directly involve in combating, preventing, and cleaning the area at the grassroots level. In the process of grasping the local situation, the subordinate units have well implemented the procedures from gathering, collating, filtering, and processing information to summing up and reporting to the superior commanders with reliable contents to ensure “accuracy, timeliness, and comprehensiveness with focus and prediction of trends and developments and anticipation of both immediate and long-term solutions and measures.”

Finally, related forces should be closely coordinated with in managing and protecting the sovereignty and security of the assigned sea borderline. The protection of border sovereignty and security in general and that in the sea borderline of the province in particular, on any scale, always requires the mobilization of different forces. Each force has separate functions and tasks and operates in different conditions, environments, and domains. They, however, all have the same purpose to contribute to maintaining the political security and protecting marine safety. Consequently, the Station’s Party Committee and commanders have thoroughly grasped and deployed numerous measures to promote the coordination with related forces (Military, Public Security, Fisheries Surveillance, Militia, Marine Self Defense Force, Coast Guard, or  Navy, etc.) to unify modes of operation and clearly define the functions, tasks, powers, and scope of handling situations as well as mottos, views, and ways of solving security and political issues in the area. The collaboration has been organized in each specific situation and task in accordance with common plans and options identified by the localities and units. Focus has been also placed on separate (bilateral) coordination with agencies and units through documents and direct conferences to unify the regulations on coordination between the Station’s Party Committee and commanders and the communal Party committees and People's Committees and the 2^nd Fleet of the Provincial Border Guards and between the Party committees and commanders of border posts and contingents of village cadres, hamlet leaders, religious dignitaries, and priests in the locality. On that basis, concrete contents, norms, and measures of coordination in patrolling, controlling, grasping of situation, and handling of situations have been developed. Additionally, plans and programs on implementing Directive No.01/CT-TTg issued by the Prime Minister on mobilizing the entire people in the protection of territorial sovereignty and national border security in the new situation have been formulated and signed with local organizations and mass associations. The final solution is that local Public Security and Military forces have been closely coordinated with in accordance with Decree No.77/2010/NĐ-CP issued on July 12^th, 2010 by the Government in organizing the propagation and education of law of the State and guidelines and viewpoints of the Party, implementing socio-economic development programs, and building a new cultural life.

Colonel Dao Duc Cu, Commander of Ky Khang Border Guard Station