Viet Bac - Military Region 1 is known as the “cradle of the August Revolution”; it was selected as “Safety Zone” and “Resistance Capital” by our Party Central Committee during the resistance war against the French; it is the place where Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team, the forerunner of the Vietnam People’s Army, was established. Bringing into play that glorious revolutionary tradition, Military Region 1’s armed forces have actively played their core role in collaborating with Viet Bac’s party committees, authorities, and citizens to build strong all-people national defence as the basis for Fatherland construction and protection in the new period.

Military Region 1 is located in the Fatherland’s Northeast, sharing a 564-km-long border with China, having great potential and advantages for agriculture, forestry, mining, and tourism, acting as a key international trade gateway of the country, holding a position of strategic importance in political, economic, defence, security, diplomatic terms. Over the years, alongside regard paid by our Party and State, party organisations, authorities, and ethnic people within the Military Region have strived to surmount difficulties and well perform the two strategic tasks of national construction and protection, thus obtaining significant achievements. However, in some areas of the Military Region, socio-economic development has been slow; the people’s life, especially in the remote, isolated, border areas has been still in difficulty. The Military Region has also been put at the forefront of hostile forces’ sabotage strategy; it has been confronted with potential destabilising factors, natural disasters, and epidemics.

Conference to announce the merger of Logistics Department and Technical Department into Logistics - Technical Department under Military Region 1

Fully aware of the overall situation, over the years, the Military Region’s armed forces, particularly all-level military agencies have brought into play their core role in advising, directing, guiding, and collaborating with local party committees, authorities, and people to comprehensively conduct the building of all-people national defence, posture of all-people national defence associated with posture of people’s security, achieving noticeable results. Awareness and responsibility of party committees, authorities, the armed forces, and people towards Fatherland protection task have been raised. All-people national defence potential and posture in all areas and local defensive zones have been enhanced; socio-economic development has been closely combined with defence - security consolidation and diplomacy. The “posture of people’s hearts and minds” has been cemented. The Military Region’s armed forces have been made “adept, compact, strong”, with great synergy and combat readiness; they have frequently closely cooperated with other forces in firmly protecting territorial sovereignty, successfully dealing with situations, avoiding falling into passivity, significantly making contributions to the country’s overall stability and development.

Currently, the tasks of national defence consolidation and Fatherland protection have new requirements amid rapid, highly complex global and regional changes. Within the Military Region, hostile forces are stepping up their sabotage strategy to undermine our national great unity; security situation in some areas is facing potential destabilising factors. That necessitates the Military Region’s armed forces continuing to promote their core role in building increasingly robust all-people national defence and maintaining political stability and social order and safety for the sake of the comprehensive development of Viet Bac - Military Region 1.

First of all, enhancing propagation and education work to raise awareness and responsibility among cadres, party members, and citizens towards the building of all-people national defence in the new situation. The Military Region’s Party Committee and Command will direct all-level military agencies to advise local party committees and authorities on maintaining and enhancing their direct, all-round leadership over military - defence work, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of national defence. At the same time, all-level military agencies will promote their role as the standing offices of all-level Defence and Security Education Councils in cooperation with departments and sectors to step up political education and raise the quality of defence and security education for target individuals, especially key leaders of the political system, with a view to making a positive change in public awareness of defence, security, and Fatherland protection tasks. Besides, the Military Region’s armed forces will perform their function as an “army ready for work”, actively encouraging the masses to take part in building a pure, strong, efficient, effective political system at grass-roots level, enhancing the movements of “paying debt of gratitude” and “joining hands to build new-style rural areas”, helping the people with hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and natural disaster prevention and control. They will continue to fight to foil hostile force’s “peaceful evolution” strategy and exploitation of issues on “ethnicity”, “religion”, and “human rights” aimed at distorting our Party and State’s lines and policies, undermining our great national unity, and inciting separatism. They will grasp the overall situation to give advice to local party committees and authorities on strategies to completely handle arising issues right at grass-roots level, achieve a consensus between party committees, authorities, and citizens, develop political - spiritual potential and a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” as the basis for making all-people national defence increasingly strong.

Military Region Command rewards units for their accomplishments in TC2-24 exercise

Second, closely combining socio-economic development with defence - security consolidation. This is an important measure to improve local defence potential and meet the task requirements of both peacetime and wartime. Grasping the Party’s lines on combining economic development with defence, security, and diplomacy, especially the Resolution of the 13^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for Fatherland Protection in the New Situation, the Military Region’s armed forces will proactively assist local party committees and authorities in enhancing a combination of socio-economic development and defence - security consolidation. Great value will be attached to developing potential economic sectors, making investments in infrastructural development, constructing dual-purpose works and traffic systems, aligning economic growth with cultural development and social equality so as to build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”. At the same time, the Military Region’s armed forces will work with competent agencies to carefully appraise socio-economic plans, programs, and projects, particularly in the key areas of defence and security, ensuring a harmony between socio-economic development and defence - security consolidation within each locality and across the Military Region. In the medium term, the Military Region will cooperate with localities in planning and adjusting residential clusters within remote, isolated, border areas as well as the areas prone to flash floods and landslides, forming solid on-the-spot defence and security forces and potential, improving the efficiency of economic - defence zones, fostering socio-economic development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction as the basis for developing military - defence potential and posture and protecting the Fatherland early and from afar.

Third, making the Military Region’s armed forces “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong and capable of playing a core role in building robust all-people national defence. Bringing into play the recorded results, in the upcoming time, the Military Region’s Party Committee and Command will continue to exercise their leadership and direction over the streamlining and building of politically, ideologically, organisationally, morally strong three-category armed forces as an reliable, loyal political and fighting army of party committees, authorities, and citizens. Emphasis will be placed on building an “adept, compact, strong” standing force with a balance between its components and priority given to combat readiness and air defence units. Due attention will be paid to building a “strong, extensive” militia and self-defence force and a powerful reserve force with high quality, especially good political quality and combat capacity. To meet its task requirements in the new situation, the Military Region will direct all-level military agencies to assist party committees and authorities in executing programs on building the militia and self-defence force and the people’s military intelligence force, renewing military call-up work, and developing human resources for the reserve force and authorities at grass-roots level. At the same time, measures to improve forces’ training, exercises, regularity building, discipline management, combat readiness, and combat power will be synchronously implemented to enable those forces to play a core role in military - defence tasks. The Military Region will direct its units to strictly maintain combat readiness regulations, keep a close watch on situational developments, closely cooperate with the Public Security Force and the Border Guard Force in defence diplomacy, and proactively design combat plans and projects to opportunely, effectively respond to defence - security situations and avoid falling into passivity.

Fourth, focusing on making military region-level defensive posture and provincial and district-level defensive zones increasingly strong. This is a central task in the building of all-people national defence in general, within Military Region 1 in particular. Hence, the Military Region will concentrate on directing all-level military agencies to proactively give advice to local party committees and authorities on promulgating and effectively implementing resolutions, directives, plans, and projects on building defensive zones. Significance will be attached to raising the quality of operation of organisations within defensive zones, guiding localities, departments, and sectors to develop defence mobilisation plans, designing and well executing master plans for defence disposition associated with local socio-economic development in each period and land management, protecting defence works and military zones, and managing natural caves and terrains of tactical value. More importantly, the Military Region will continue to complete the planning of military region-level defensive posture and military posture within provincial and district-level defensive zones. It will cooperate with localities to align the building of defensive zones with civilian defence, foster socio-economic development associated with defence - security consolidation, and mobilise resources for building defensive posture, with priority given to building main defensive works, such as all-level headquarters, evacuation zones, secret concentration zones, combat bases, rear bases, campaign-level key combat positions, tunnels, and firepower battlefields, forming an extensive, inter-connected, solid posture in each direction and area, meeting the requirements of defence - security tasks and operations to protect areas in the event of a war.

Being proud of their revolutionary tradition, Military Region 1’s armed forces will continue to strive to well perform military - defence tasks, build robust all-people national defence, and make the postures of all-people national defence, people’s security, and all-people border defence increasingly strong for the sake of Fatherland construction and protection in the new situation.

Lt. Gen. NGUYEN HONG THAI

Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the Central Military Commission

Commander of the Military Region