Lang Son Provincial Border Guard, as a core force, specialises in managing and safeguarding the 231.7 kilometre-national border line and border area in the province, comprising 20 communes, 1 township, and 176 border villages. This region is characterised by challenging terrain, transportation obstacles, and the ongoing hardships faced by local residents. Criminal activities continue to evolve in complexity, and hostile forces employ sophisticated tactics to undermine security.

In response to this situation, over the past years, the Provincial Border Guard Party Committee and Command have implemented various leadership strategies and measures to comprehensively enhance the border work. Among these, community mobilisation has been identified as a central task and fundamental solution to harness collective strength to effectively manage and firmly protect national sovereignty and border security.

Understanding the context, functions, and deep-seated principles of leadership and guidance from the Border Guard Party Committee, Border Guard High Command, Provincial Party Committee, and Provincial People’s Committee regarding mass mobilisation, Lang Son Provincial Border Guard Party Committee has issued a specialised resolution titled “Continuing to innovate and improve the quality and effectiveness of mass mobilisation in the new period,” outlining comprehensive, cohesive, and prioritised content and solutions. Additionally, the Border Guard Command has developed an implementation plan, while party committees and commanders at all levels have thoroughly internalised and incorporated this content into their leadership resolutions. They have also tailored programmes and plans to align with the functions and tasks of their respective units. Recognising that the core force primarily responsible for propaganda and mass mobilisation consists of cadres and staff specialising in mass engagement, the Provincial Border Guard Command has made decisions to establish 21 information and communication teams across border guard stations and border villages. These teams are regularly reinforced in terms of both quantity and quality. They receive training and professional development to enhance their propagation skills. During the implementation process, the Provincial Border Guard has provided guidance to agencies, posts, and stations, closely coordinating with local party committees and authorities in strengthening propaganda, mobilisation, and engagement of the entire political system and the active participation of the people.

To achieve the goals of ensuring that “the people understand, trust, and follow” and to support the border guard forces, the qualities, capabilities, methods, and demeanor of the military personnel, especially those leading and specialising in mass mobilisation, are of utmost importance. Recognising this, the Provincial Party Committee and Border Guard Command have consistently emphasised the need for innovation in content, methods, and forms of mass mobilisation. They have also specifically focus on enhancing the quality of the concrete and practical task of mass mobilisation. This effort aligns with the study and implementation of the thoughts, ethics, and style of President Ho Chi Minh, as well as Resolution No.847-NQ/QUTW issued on 28 December 2021 by the Central Military Commission on promoting the qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, resolutely combating individualism in the new context, and the drive on promoting traditions, dedicating talents, and being worthy of the title “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era. Throughout the process, various agencies and units have consistently promoted the quality of grassroots community involvement in managing and protecting the national border lines and landmarks and the drive on the Youth’s mastership of border line for management and protection of the national border. They have organised awareness campaigns to encourage social contributions and support financial resources and construction materials for nearly 200 border landmark checking routes, covering a total length of over 30 kilometres and valued at tens of billions of Vietnamese dong. Simultaneously, they have implemented the model of “Illuminating the Border Patrol Route” by installing 203 solar-powered light posts, worth 351 million dong, to illuminate more than 20 kilometers of the border patrol route. These practical actions have contributed to educating, nurturing, and developing the Provincial Border Guard’s cadres and soldiers into individuals who dare to think, speak, do, take responsibility, innovate, face challenges, and act for the common good, genuinely immersing themselves in the lives of the border residents to earn their trust and affection.

Ba Son Border Post deploys the Viet Bamboo Fence Model

In addition to disseminating and propagating the Party’s principles, directions, general policies, and state laws to the people, the Provincial Border Guard Command has directed its units to focus on disseminating legal documents related to the border, including the National Border Law, the Vietnamese Border Guard Law, three legal documents specifically addressing border issues, and documents relevant to preventing and combating crime, smuggling, and illegal immigration. To achieve effectiveness, the units have combined regular education and propaganda with thematic and task-based propaganda through various forms and methods. They have also collaborated with organisations such as the Youth Union, Women’s Union, and local schools in organising seminars, forums, theatrical information sessions, artistic performances, and events like the People’s Border Guard Day. As a result, they have contributed to building a strong sense of trust in the Party’s leadership and the State, actively participated in managing and protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resistance against negative propaganda, not following the propaganda and distortions of bad people, thwarting the subversive schemes of hostile forces, while strengthening the overall resilience of the people’s border defence.

In line with the principle of “sharing meals, living together, working together, and speaking the language of the people,” the Provincial Border Guard has provided guidance and closely coordinated with local party committees and authorities to establish a robust grassroots political system in the border areas. They have effectively implemented the Grassroots Democracy Regulations and promptly resolved emerging challenges at the grassroots level, preventing the occurrence of “hotspots.” Additionally, party members from border guard stations have been assigned to participate in activities within village-level party cells and take responsibility for specific households. The focus lies in strengthening, developing, and enhancing the quality of party organisations and party members at the village level; recruiting new party members, eliminating “non-party-member” villages; creating and implementing leadership and working regulations, cadre training and development planning, and arranging personnel at various levels. These initiatives have contributed to improving the effectiveness of local party committees, government bodies, and grassroots organisations in addressing challenges promptly, preventing prolonged issues, and enhancing trust and confidence in the border guard cadres.

In practice, it has been shown that when ethnic communities feel “well-fed and content”, they will wholeheartedly follow the Party. Therefore, the Provincial Border Guard has placed great importance on providing guidance and collaborating with local party committees, authorities, and people in implementing programmes and projects for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, and hunger eradication. Among these efforts, the main focus is on participating in the construction of new rural areas through specific deeds, including building essential infrastructure, guiding people on livestock and crop conversion methods, and applying scientific and technical advancements to enhance labour productivity, and initiatives aiming to create livelihoods for the population, promote economic development, stabilise living conditions, and contribute to building new rural areas.

To support students from disadvantaged backgrounds in attending school, the Provincial Border Guard Command has directed the implementation of the “Warm Winter Clothing for Border Areas” programme. This initiative provides warm clothing and blankets to impoverished students and families facing the harsh winter cold. Additionally, the “Supporting Children Schooling - Border Guard’s Adopting Children” programme has successfully adopted 15 students and provided support to 180 underprivileged students, with a total budget exceeding 1.7 billion Vietnamese dong. Furthermore, free medical examinations, treatment, and medication have been provided to the border population. Through these specific and practical actions, the image of “green-rank teacher” and “green-rank doctor” remains deeply ingrained in the minds and hearts of local party committees, authorities, and ethnic communities, contributing to fostering the blood-and-flesh bond of unity between the army and the people and continuously nurturing the noble qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era.

With a high sense of responsibility, joint efforts and consensus and specific, practical, and effective actions in mass mobilisation work of the cadres, soldiers and agencies, and units of the Lang Son Provincial Border Guard in recent times have made an important contribution to maintaining political stability, building a solid “people’s heart-and-mind posture” to manage and protect sovereignty and national borders and build the border areas of peace, friendship, cooperation, and mutual development with neighbouring country.

From the achieved results, Lang Son Provincial Border Guard Party Committee and Command have drawn some experiences to continue to lead and direct to improve the quality of mass mobilisation work to meet the requirements and tasks in the new situation. Firstly, to regularly disseminate, propagate and educate to raise awareness and responsibility for cadres, party members, and soldiers, particularly presiding cadres at all levels regarding position, role, and importance of mass mobilisation. Secondly, to closely follow reality, firmly grasp the situation, perform well the work of advising the local Party Committees and authorities to well implement propaganda and mobilisation of people to comply with the Party’s policies and guidelines and the State policies and laws, especially guidelines and policies on ethnic and religious affairs. Thirdly, to proactively coordinate with departments, branches, agencies, functional forces, and local mass organisations in regularly innovating the content and forms of propaganda and mobilisation of people, ensuring compliance with the areas and target audience. Fourthly, to actively research, build and replicate, good models and effective ways of doing things, in particular, focusing on models that help people develop economically, culturally, socially, eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, build new rural areas, and participate in consolidating and building the strong political system in border areas. Finally, to regularly take care of, strengthen, consolidate, train, and improve the quality of cadres in general, cadres specialising in mass mobilisation, cadres and party members of the Border Guard station participating in border district and commune committees, attending activities at village party cells and taking charge of households in border areas.

Senior Colonel TRINH HUU TANG, Political Commissar of the Provincial Border Guard Command