Tapping the entire people’s strength to firmly protect national sovereignty and border security and build a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development is a consistent policy of our Party and State. This policy has been effectively implemented by Lang Son Provincial Border Guard’s Party Committee and Command via a lot of synchronous, creative measures.

Lang Son is a border, mountainous province located in Northeastern Vietnam, sharing a 231-km-long border with China, possessing 2 international border gates (1 road border gate and 1 railway border gate), 1 bilateral border gate, and 9 auxiliary border gates. The province is the first point of Vietnam in 2 economic corridors, namely Nanning (China) – Lang Son – Hanoi – Hai Phong and Lang Son – Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City – Moc Bai (part of Nanning – Singapore economic corridor). Being fully aware of the province’s strategic position as an important gateway of the country, over the years, the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) has promoted its core, specialised role and encouraged the participation of the entire political system and people in managing and defending national sovereignty and border security, thus obtaining a lot of encouraging results.

It is worth noting that the PBG has proactively given advice to local party committees and authorities to effectively implement Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg, dated January 9^th, 2015 on organising the movement of all people’s participation in protecting territorial sovereignty and border security in the new situation, encourage the masses to take part in safeguarding borderlines and border markers and ensuring security and order at hamlets and villages, and assign lands, forests, and border sections and markers to households, hamlets, and villages along the border. At the same time, the PBG has actively participated in building political bases, facilitating socio-economic development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction, gradually improving the people’s life, and well organising the “All-People Border Defence Day,” thereby greatly contributing to building “border markers of people’s hearts and minds” within border areas. More importantly, ethnic minority people have stood shoulder to shoulder with the PBG to safeguard the province’s peace day and night. In the past 5 years, relevant forces and the masses have cooperated with the PBG in conducting 1,780 patrols along the border and spending 1,524 working sessions with the participation of over 12,000 people on repairing and clearing 167 kilometres of the border patrol road, and constructing 70 concrete piles as border markers along 14.2 kilometres of the border. The people and the PBG have frequently closely supervised the construction of works from the other side of the border, prevented and combated crime of various types, and firmly protected territorial sovereignty and border security.

Currently and in the foreseeable future, the development of the Homeland protection is imposing new requirements on territorial sovereignty and border security management and protection. Meanwhile, violations of agreements and regulations on border and border gate management as well as crime of various types, particularly cross-border crime, illegal immigration, smuggling, and trade frauds along the province’s border tend to increase. Hostile forces are taking advantage of the issues on ethnicity, religion, human rights, and democracy to step up their sabotage strategy. Natural disasters and epidemics continue to be complex and unpredictable. Those above-mentioned things are threatening political security and social order and safety within the province. Against that backdrop, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should keep promoting all people’s strength to manage and firmly protect territorial sovereignty and border security in all situations.

Ethnic minority people and troops of Chi Ma Border Gate’s Border Guard Post during a programme to celebrate Lunar New Year 2022

The spread of the “All-People Border Defence Day”

The province’s border areas are large, with 20 communes and 1 township under 5 districts, while the PBG is rather small. Hence, bringing into play the entire people’s strength to manage and protect territorial sovereignty and border security is of strategic importance. Grounded on higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on border defence work, particularly the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW, dated September 28^th, 2018 on the National Border Protection Strategy, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should continue cooperating with competent offices of the province and border districts in executing our Party and State’s resolutions and directives on national border construction and protection. Emphasis should be placed on the Project to “enhance law dissemination and education for cadres and citizens within border areas in the period of 2021-2025,” the National Border Law, the Vietnam Border Defence Law, and three border-related documents between Vietnam and China, namely the Agreement on Border Management Regulations, the Border Gate Agreement, and the Regulations on Land Border Gate Management. Doing so will enable local party organisations, authorities, and citizens to fully understand that border management and protection represent responsibility of the entire political system, sectors, forces, and all people, with the Border Guard Force playing a core, specialised role in effectively adopting measures for national border management and protection.

Additionally, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should direct their affiliated offices and units to closely cooperate with local party committees and authorities in encouraging citizens to resettle near the border, providing border law-related education, and assisting the people in patrolling the border and repairing and clearing the border patrol road. Due attention should be paid to mobilising resources from sectors, offices, units, citizens, cadres, and soldiers to construct and upgrade infrastructures for the people’s life and socio-economic development. The PBG should step up cooperation with party committees and authorities of border communes and townships in identifying constructions and key tasks in each year and period to formulate action plans. Greater importance should be attached to effectively executing movements, such as “border guard posts’ adopted children,” “giving support to frontier women,” and “the PBG of Lang Son joins hands in building new-style countryside” in order to build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” and a strong all-people border defence and turn each border citizen into a “living border marker” for the defence of national sovereignty and border security.

“Joint efforts with the people against crime”

As the province has many important transport arteries and key national and international border gates, trade activities in its border areas are extremely vibrant. However, the province’s border areas are also a “fertile land” for the hostile forces and criminals of various types to enhance their operations. Against such a backdrop, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should determinedly promote “joint efforts with the people against crime.” To that end, the province will focus on raising the effectiveness of information and communication teams at border guard posts and border communes and townships and setting up anti-crime mailboxes at hamlets and villages to create a widespread action movement against crime amongst the people. At the same time, the BPG should synchronously take specialised measures to grasp the situation from the two sides of the border, develop anti-crime plans and projects, ensure internal political protection, and build a clean environment within its offices and units. Besides, the province will direct border guard offices and posts to actively, proactively recruit members of the secret force both qualitatively and quantitatively for drug and crime prevention and control, with priority given to key areas under Decision 3064/QĐ-BTL and Guidance 112/HD-CPCMT&TP.

Grasping and well implementing the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP, dated September 5^th, 2019 on coordination between the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence in protecting national security, ensuring social order and safety, preventing and combating crime, and performing defence task, the PBG should closely cooperate with the Public Security Force in performing relevant tasks. It should collaborate with the Public Security Force at grass-roots level in advising border communes and townships to crack down on crime in key, complex areas under Decision 74 approved by the province. At the same time, it should continue raising the effectiveness of coordination with the province’s Customs Force, Market Management Force, Women’s Union, and State Bank of Vietnam Lang Son in providing information and exchanging specialised measures for crime, smuggling, and trade fraud prevention and control in order to ensure national defence and security and social order and safety within the province’s areas in any situation.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should concentrate on directing border guard posts to cooperate with China’s immigration control stations in providing law propagation, dissemination, and education for citizens from the two sides of the border and at border gates. Due regard should be paid to organising Political Exchange Programmes between Huu Nghi International Border Gate’s Border Guard Post (Vietnam) and Friendship Gate’s Immigration Control Station (China), realising agreements on national defence and border defence cooperation between Vietnam and China, implementing the Programme titled “building border guard posts and stations of friendship and a border of peace,” and encouraging diplomatic and people-to-people exchange activities for the sake of a border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development in the new period.

Sr. Col. NINH VAN HOP, Commander of the PBG