The strengthening of safeguarding the Party's ideological foundation and refuting erroneous and hostile viewpoints stands as a fundamental, constant, and pivotal task in Party building and rectification. This core principle was manifested in Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW issued on October 22^nd, 2018 by the Politburo (12^th tenure). It requires the entire Party, the people, and the Army in general, as well as the Military Party Committee, the High Command of Ho Chi Minh City in particular to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement with multiple synchronous and effective measures.

Ho Chi Minh City is the economic, political, cultural, scientific, and technological hub of the Southern region and the entire nation. It is characterised not only by rapid growth and a national-scale economy but also holds a strategic position in national defence, security, foreign affairs, and international trade. Simultaneously, it serves as a focal point of hostile forces’ efforts to undermine the Party, the State, and the armed forces in various aspects and fields, with a focus on the Party's ideological foundation. Being fully aware of this issue and on the foundation of grasping the City's position and the role of the armed forces in safeguarding the Party's ideological foundation, in recent years, the Military Party Committee and the High Command of Ho Chi Minh City, along with the party committees and commanders of agencies and units have consistently led and directed the implementation of Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW issued on October 22^nd, 2018 by the Politburo (12^th tenure) with multiple synchronous and effective measures. All agencies and units have intensified education, enhanced awareness and responsibility among cadres, party members,  and the masses, and determined this task as a central political task, the responsibility of party committees, leaders, and commanders, as well as each cadre and soldier.  The Military Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and party committees of agencies and units have concentrated their leadership and direction on safeguarding the Party's ideological foundation in association with intensifying inspections, supervision, and speeding up the implementation of this crucial task. The coordination with organisations and forces of Military Region 7, the local units, as well as the City's departments, branches, and organisations has become increasingly close. The Steering Committee for Resolution No. 35 of the Military Party Committee of the City, as well as the Secretary Team and Orientation Team have been regularly strengthened with strict discipline and effectively performed their advisory and organisational roles. Task Force 47 and Collaborators 35 have shown evident progress in their awareness and responsibility in propagating, struggling, and refuting erroneous and harmful viewpoints in cyberspace. Numerous websites and groups have been developed effectively and become reliable and helpful sources for cadres and soldiers of the city armed forces and the local people to follow and interact to maintain the Party's ideological frontlines in each agency, unit, and locality.

In the forthcoming time, the situation of the world, region, and the East Sea are predicted to experience complex developments. Domestically, major urban areas such as Ho Chi Minh City are targeted by hostile and reactionary forces who take advantage of sensitive political events and complicated issues, as well as existing weaknesses in leadership, direction, and administration at various levels; issues related to ethnicity, religion, anti-corruption efforts, and waste reduction, etc. are utilised to sabotage the Party, the State, and the Army with increasingly cunning, overt, drastic, and direct tactics. Consequently, the Military Party Committee, the High Command of Ho Chi Minh City as well as Steering Committee 35, Task Force 47, agencies and units are required to grasp and effectively implement Resolution No. 35 of the Politburo with multiple drastic and synchronous measures. In particular, it is necessary to concentrate on the following contents.

First and foremost, enhancing the awareness of party committees, organisations and forces in implementing the Resolution is pivotal and of decisive significance. For great effectiveness, the Military Party Committee of the City must lead and direct its agencies, units, and local authorities to enhance the quality of educating and grasping resolutions, directives, and instructions of higher echelons on safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation, struggling, and refuting erroneous and hostile viewpoints. The contents of education and grasping must be across the board and concentrated on fundamental issues outlined in Resolution No. 35 of the Politburo, the directives and instructions from the Central Military Commission's Steering Committee 35, the General Political Department, Military Zone 7, and the City's Party Committee on safeguarding the Party's ideological foundation and countering erroneous and hostile viewpoints in the new period. Simultaneously, the instructions from functional agencies, especially on safeguarding internal political system, ensuring information security, cyber security, secrets of the State and the Army, etc., should also be heeded. On the foundation of cohering the awareness and approaches to implementation, party committees and organisations should develop specific plans in their leadership resolutions, programmes, and work plans with practical and appropriate contents and targets. Emphasis should be placed on cadres and soldiers’ absolute consistency in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's ideology and their faith in the Party's leadership, the success of the cause of national renewal, and trust in the combat strength of the Army. Simultaneously, it is pivotal to actively engage in theoretical research, practical summarisation, and constant development of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought, along with ideological and theoretical struggles; lead and direct the inspection and supervision of party organisations and members in observing the Political Platform, the Party’s Charter, resolutions, directives, and regulations. The focus should be put on directing the organisation of the Political Essay Contest on safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation and refuting erroneous and hostile viewpoints organised by the General Political Department, the Military Region, and the City Party Committee. It is necessary to strengthen forces (editorial groups, press and propagation groups, administrators, Task Force 47); actively develop plans for propagation and struggle of pages and groups; ensure the quality and effectiveness of activities.

Forecasting, researching, and grasping information to determine the content of propagating and refuting erroneous and malicious information without being passive and surprised is crucial in safeguarding the Party's ideological foundation and countering erroneous and hostile viewpoints in the new context. Therefore, the Military Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City should lead and direct agencies, units, and localities to proactively study and grasp the conspiracies and tricks of the activities conducted by hostile forces as well as public opinions, ideological trends among various social classes, and the activities of organisations and groups, particularly those with extreme and oppositional behaviour in the area. Meetings, news briefings, and information collection in cyberspace must be stringently maintained, thereby promptly assessing and forecasting the conspiracies and activities of organisations and targets to propose effective countermeasures. Importance should be attached to bringing into play the role of self-defence forces in keeping abreast of the local situation and gathering information through the implementation of the "Local self-defence force keep track of local situation" model; promoting the role of political forces in religious establishments, ethnic communities, artistic circles, intellectuals, workers in industrial zones, export processing zones, and hotspots of security and order, etc. are essential for timely grasping public opinions. Furthermore, leaders should closely coordinate with standing forces in the area, such as the Public Security, Department of Information and Communications, etc., to grasp information, changes, and activities of targets, and propose effective countermeasures.

The contents, forms, and environments of struggling and refuting erroneous and hostile viewpoints to safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation are varied; however, the focus is mainly on the Internet and social networks. Thus, the Military Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City must concentrate on enhancing the quality of news and articles; the methods of propagation and the struggle in cyberspace. For great effectiveness, agencies and units must adhere to the contents of safeguarding the Party’s ideological foundation in accordance with Resolution No. 35 of the Politburo; and the guidance of the Central Military Commission, the General Political Department, the Military Region, and the City Party Committee with a focus on the renewal of contents to ensure the combination of “building” and “preventing”, in which, “building” is fundamental and long-term, while "preventing" is a pivotal, urgent, and regular task. Steering Committees 35 at all levels should guide the Content Compilation Team to adhere to the orientation of the higher-level political agencies, draft contents, and publish them on platforms, groups, and social media networks (Facebook, YouTube, Zalo, etc.). The content should be succinct and focus on propagating and affirming the revolutionary and scientific nature of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's ideology; the Party's guidelines, the state's laws and policies; the positive results in the fight against corruption and negativity; the essence and conspiracies of hostile forces in denying and distorting the Party’s ideological foundation; erroneous allegations of opportunistic and extremist elements, etc. Throughout the implementation process, agencies, units, and local authorities should proactively coordinate with departments, boards, sectors, associations, and organisations to popularise positive information, thereby gradually mitigating the negative impacts and eliminating erroneous and malicious information in cyberspace.

Concerning propagation and struggle methods, the Military Party Committee and the High Command of Ho Chi Minh City must place emphasis on intensifying positive and legitimate activities on social platforms. This includes maintaining and developing pages and groups with the principle of "wide-ranging, trenchant, focused unity, highlighting the good and eliminating the bad". First and foremost, the Military Party Committee of the City, along with the party committees of agencies, units, and local authorities must regularly strengthen the Steering Committee 35 and Secretariat Team and assist Steering Committee, Orientation Team, and Task Force 47 so that proper component, structure, and quality, thereby bringing into play their pivotal role in providing guidance and organisation. Close coordination between the Military Region’s agencies, units and the local agencies, boards, sectors, and associations must be made to create a network for disseminating positive and widespread information, thereby magnetising active participation in accessing, sharing, commenting, and connecting both military and civilian social-network users to generate a positive and counter-argumentative information effect against erroneous and malicious ideologies and viewpoints. Additionally, the focus should be on organising direct struggles, following the trail of events, and resolutely eradicating articles and accounts that propagate erroneous and malicious content.

Together with the aforementioned measures, the Military Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City must regularly pay attention to investing in equipment and technical means to enhance the quality of propagation and struggle on social networks. Simultaneously, there should be effective mechanisms to encourage, motivate, and promptly reward groups and individuals who have outstanding achievements so that the entire Party, the entire People, and the entire Army can firmly safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation in accordance with Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW of the Politburo.

Major General PHAN VAN XUNG, Political Commissar of the High Command of Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Secretary of the Permanent Party Committee of the  Military Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City