Grasping the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress on diplomacy, the Military Region 1’s armed forces have been stepping up military diplomacy via various practical, synchronous, proper measures to greatly contribute to consolidating defence and security, maintaining politico-social stability, firmly protecting border and territorial sovereignty, and raising the prestige and status of the Military and the country in the international arena.

The Military Region 1 manages and shares a long border with China; therefore, over the years, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command have always grasped the Party’s foreign policy, particularly the Government’s Decree 22/2016/NĐ-CP, dated March 31^st, 2016 on military diplomacy, the Resolution 806-NQ/QUTW, dated December 31^st, 2013 by the Central Military Commission (CMC) on military international integration and diplomacy towards 2020 and beyond as well as the Circular 88/2010/TT-BQP, dated July 2^nd, 2010 by the Ministry of National Defence (MND) issuing the Statutes on organising, managing, and coordinating military diplomacy. Also, they have focused on concretising those documents into the Project on Military International Integration towards 2020, with a vision towards 2030, while directing offices, units, and localities to design their own action plans/programmes. In this regard, goals and targets of military international integration and diplomacy have been combined with the building of the armed forces. Due attention has been paid to improving the armed forces’ performance of the military-defence work, their core role in building defensive zones, and their capabilities in combining socio-economic development with defence and security, protecting military and state secrets, and ensuring safety during international delegations’ visits. The Military Region has always grasped the situation along the border and in the air to advise the CMC and the MND on opportunely, effectively dealing with issues.

In addition, the Military Region has enhanced external information service to render all people fully aware of our Party and State’s foreign policy, thus contributing to fighting against the hostile forces’ distortions. It has directed its offices and units to cooperate with local party committees and authorities, the border guard force, the public security force, and China’s competent force in managing the border  and combating crime, especially illegal border crossing. The 3^rd and 5^th Vietnam-China border defence friendship exchange programmes have been successfully held in Cao Bang and Lang Son. The Military Region has opportunely reviewed its diplomatic activities and formulated new strategies of cooperation, thereby widely, deeply developing its diplomatic work, maintaining a peaceful environment and political stability, and firmly protecting national sovereignty, territory, border, and interests.

Leaders of the Military Region 1 taking a photo with the delegation of the Lao Embassy in Vietnam during its visit to the headquarters

Currently, the regional situation continues to be complex and unpredictable. The issues relating to territory, border, seas and islands as well as economic, commercial and technological competition between countries are increasingly intense. The hostile forces are making use of social networks to enhance their “peaceful evolution” strategy via new plots and artifices. The COVID-19 pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down. All of things impose new task requirements on military diplomacy. In order to promote the synergy of the armed forces and the political system for effectively implementing the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress on military diplomacy, the Military Region will focus on several measures as follows.

First, continue grasping and realising the Party’s viewpoints on military international integration and diplomacy, the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, and the guidelines on multilateralising and diversifying diplomatic ties to ensure national benefits at the highest level. Adhering to higher echelons’ directives and resolutions, offices, units, and localities across the Military Region shall concretise military diplomacy into guidelines, measures, and action programmes/plans in accordance with each period and their function, task, and particularities. In the medium term, it is necessary to realise the Statement on Joint Vision on Defence Cooperation towards 2025 between the MND and the Chinese Ministry of National Defence, the agreement between the MND and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security on establishing the mechanism of three-level cooperation in law enforcement to control border gate zones and manage the land border. Besides, it is essential to execute cooperation programmes with Laos in 2021 under the MND’s Directive 03/CT-BQP, dated January 14^th, 2021. In this regard, great value should be attached to developing stable, long-term relations, consolidating mutual trust, reducing differences, avoiding detriments to defence and security, and cautiously, closely, harmoniously dealing with issues to contribute to raising the effectiveness of cooperation with other countries under the Military Region’s function and task. The Military Region shall proactively grasp the situation to advise the MND on bettering international integration and gaining strategic advantages to maintain peace and defend national sovereignty.

Second, renew the contents, forms and methods of external information and military diplomacy. Focuses of this work should be placed on clarifying Vietnam’s achievements in socio-economic development, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, democracy, human rights, ethnicity, and religion within regions and areas. It is important to render partners and locals from the two sides of the border fully aware of Vietnam’s policy of international integration and national defence and make them understand that Vietnam loves peace and is proactively taking part in settling global and regional issues. Doing so will help unmask and combat the hostile forces’ distortions, gain the international community’s support, foil all plots of violating our territory and border, and build a border of peace, stability, cooperation, friendship and development.

Third, keep stepping up bilateral military diplomatic activities in a proactive, practical, effective manner and closely combining the Party’s diplomacy and the State’s external affairs with military diplomacy. In this regard, priority should be given to cementing bilateral relations and mutual trust with neighbours via proper steps, preventing detriments to defence and security, and carefully, closely, harmoniously handling issues relating to the border. Offices, units, and localities shall strictly implement the MND’s Decision 2512/QĐ-BQP, dated October 17^th, 2001, the Regulations 60/QC-BTLQK1-BTLBĐBP, dated January 11^th, 2016 and the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP to maintain close coordination between the Military and the Public Security Force in exchanging information, conducting joint patrols along the border, and ensuring security and order. These forces shall grasp the situation and proactively propose strategies to deal with complex issues relating to border, territory, international integration and military diplomacy to avoid falling into passivity. When the COVID-19 epidemic is controlled, it is essential to enhance people-to-people and defence friendship exchange in the border area, make necessary preparations for holding Vietnam-China border defence friendship exchange programmes to build a border of peace, friendship and unity for cooperation and development. At the same time, due attention should be paid to protecting internal politics, state secrets, and military secrets, preventing espionage under the guise of military diplomacy or international integration, and ensuring the absolute safety of our delegations to other countries and foreign ones to the Military Region.

Fourth, preserve the core role in building the all-people national defence and the postures of all-people national defence and people’s security as the basis for military international integration and diplomacy. To that end, the Military Region shall well implement breakthroughs in adjusting its organisational structure in line with each force’s function and task, while improving the training quality and its staff members’ professional competence, combat readiness capacity and skills in flexibly settling contingencies. Due regard should be paid to building, training and cultivating a compact contingent of cadres and employees in charge of the diplomatic work with political zeal, absolute loyalty to the Party, the Homeland, and the people, pure morality, good knowledge of our defence and foreign policies and international law, great professional competence, and good command of foreign languages. Consideration should be given to applying information technology and technical advances in military diplomatic activities to ensure the task performance in any situation. Besides, great value should be attached to strengthening party committees’ leadership over national defence and authorities’ management of national defence at all levels and closely collaborating with localities in appraising socio-economic development plans and projects in accordance with the military posture and defensive determination, particularly in the border area. Investments and local budgets should be employed to construct headquarters, combat bases and rear bases, while defence-security consolidation should be closely combined with socio-economic development.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the Military Region shall raise the efficiency of its economic-defence units, well carry out the mass mobilisation work, and actively take part in consolidating political bases and improving the people’s life to enable them to engage in protecting the border and make contributions to building solid provincial and district-level defensive zones as the basis for well performing the military diplomatic work in the new situation.

Lt. Gen. NGUYEN HONG THAI, Member of the Party Central Committee, Commander of the Military Region 1