Building cities and municipalities into solid defensive zones is a key strategy of our Party and State, an important part of Vietnam’s two strategic tasks, and the inheritance and creative development of the national tradition of “preventing the country from the risk of war in advance.” In fact, the solidity of the national defence and security postures, the synergy of the all-people national defence and people’s security, and the performance of the Homeland defence task greatly depend on the comprehensive firmness of defensive zones. The reason is that provincial and municipal defensive zones represent an integral component of the general defensive system of the military regions and entire country, aimed at encouraging the on-the-spot synergy, preventing and effectively dealing with all situations in both peacetime and wartime, creating a peaceful environment for socio-economic development, firmly protecting localities, maintaining readiness for defeating all invasions, and safeguarding the Vietnamese Socialist Homeland.

A conference to review the work of coordinating the building and operation of defensive zones in the period of 2015-2018 held by the GPD (photo: VNA)

Comprehensively building defensive zones in terms of potential, force, and posture as well as their politico-spiritual potential acts as a determinant to the solidity of other types of potential and helps create the synergy of defensive zones. Building the politico-spiritual potential within a defensive zone is to build personnel and organisations and to improve the awareness, faith, sentiment, political zeal, social consensus, and determination of the whole Party, Military and people towards the national defence and security task and the Homeland protection. Building the politico-spiritual potential also means making the political system strong comprehensively, developing culture, improving the people’s material and mental life, cementing the national great unity block, settling the issues on ethnicity and religion and other social ones, maintaining political stability, and ensuring social order and safety.

Fully aware of the importance of the politico-spiritual potential within defensive zones, over the years, the Vietnam People’s Army General Political Department (hereafter the GPD) has well performed its function, task, role, and responsibility for building defensive zones in general, the politico-spiritual potential within the defensive zones in particular. It should be noted that the GPD has advised the Party, State, Central Military Commission (CMC), and Ministry of National Defence (MND) to issue leading and directing documents on building defensive zones and their politico-spiritual potential, such as the 10^th Politburo’s Resolution 28-NQ/TW, dated September 22^nd 2008, on “continuing to build provinces and municipalities into solid defensive zones in the new situation,” the Party Central Secretariat’s Decision 168-QĐ/TW, dated March 4^th 2013, the Regulation for cooperation between the GPD and central offices in the building and operation of defensive zones, the Government’s Decree 02/2016/NĐ-CP, dated January 5^th 2016, on amending and supplementing several articles of the Decree 152/2007/NĐ-CP, the Government’s Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP, dated February 22^nd 2019, on defensive zones, and the CMC Standing Board’s Guidance, dated March 3^rd 2013, on local party committees’ leadership over the building and operation of defensive zones. Grounded on resolutions and directives by the Party Central Committee and the CMC, the GPD has issued documents guiding the implementation process properly, making contributions to raising the quality of the operation of defensive zones and the building of politico-spiritual potential, such as the Guidance 331/HD-CT, dated March 8^th 2013, on the activities of the Party’s offices, Vietnam Fatherland Front, and local politico-social unions in the building and operation of defensive zones, the Guidance 1875/HD-CT, dated September 10^th 2015, on the sequence of operation and method of designing documents for heads of the Party’s offices, Vietnam Fatherland Front, and local politico-spiritual unions in the building and operation of defensive zones.

In addition, the GPD has advised the CMC and leaders of the MND on directing the party committees of the military regions and Hanoi Capital Command Party, and provincial and municipal military party committees to execute the mechanism for cooperation with the Steering Board for Defensive Zone at their level, to establish the relations between military regions’ party committees and provincial-level party committees, between the military offices and local authorities at their level as well as between military offices and public security offices in the building and operation of defensive zones. At the same time, due attention has been paid to directing and helping the all-level party committees, military regions’ political offices, and provincial and district-level military offices to actively give advice to party committees and authorities at their level on well carrying out the work of political education and ideological management and the work of defence-security education to raise the awareness and responsibility of the organisations, armed forces, and people in the areas towards the military-defence task and the building of defensive zones. The mechanism for leading, directing, and commanding the building and operation of defensive zones has been put in order. The party and political work during provincial and district-level defensive zone exercises has been operated smoothly by local departments and sectors with diverse forms and methods relevant to reality. The measures for building strong grass-roots political system have been adopted and brought about the encouraging results. The Central Organisation Commission’ Guidance 35-HD/BTCTW, dated September 15^th 2009, on the organisation and operation of commune-level military party cells has been conducted effectively. Many localities have assigned commune-level party committee secretaries to hold the position of secretaries and commissars of commune-level military commands, thereby contributing to raising the effectiveness of leadership over the military-defence task and the building of defensive zones.

In the upcoming years, peace, national independence, democracy, cooperation, and development will still be the mainstream of the times. However, there will be unpredictable developments of the regional and global situation. There will be strategic adjustments and competitions by and between major powers. Violations of national sovereignty, disputes over territories, seas, islands, and natural resources, ethnic and religious conflicts, interventions for regime conversion, terrorism, and local, cyber, and trade wars will continue to be complex. Domestically, the achievements in the country’s renewal cause have brought it new advantages and much greater synergy. Nevertheless, there still exist risks and threats within our country. Climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics continue to be complex and directly impact on the life’s life. The hostile forces keep stepping up their “peaceful evolution” strategy with the artifices of “freedom,” “democracy,” “human rights,” “ethnicity,” and “religion,” while enhancing “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within and their plots to “depoliticize” and “civilize” the Military as well as separate the people from the Party, authorities, and Military with a view to removing the Party’s leadership role and socialist regime in our country.

Things mentioned above profoundly, greatly impact on our people’s Homeland construction and defence and impose new requirements for the building of defensive zones and politico-spiritual potential. To continue promoting the GPD’s role in building the politico-spiritual potential of defensive zones, it is necessary to focus on the following.

First, keeping grasping our Party and State’s guidelines and viewpoints on the military, defence, security task and the building and operation of defensive zones. It is essential to actively counsel the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, the CMC, and the MND to issue guiding and directing documents on building defensive zones and their politico-spiritual potential in accordance with the developments of the situation. While grasping the Party’s military-defence guidelines, we need to focus on new documents, such as the National Defence Law of 2018, the Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP, the Resolution 24-NQ/TW on Vietnam’s National Defence Strategy, the Conclusion 31-KL/TW on Vietnam’s Military Strategy, the Resolution 29-NQ/TW on the Strategy for the Homeland Defence in cyberspace, the Resolution 30-NQ/TW on the National Cyber Security Strategy, the Resolution 33-NQ/TW on the Strategy for the National Border Protection, and other decrees by the Governments on building the politico-spiritual element within defensive zones as well as on the impacts on building defensive zones and their politico-spiritual potential. Doing so will help promote and raise the role and capacity of the GPD’s competent offices in counselling, guiding, and directing the building of the politico-spiritual potential within defensive zones. It will also help direct offices, units, and localities to observe the directives, resolutions, and mechanisms for building defensive zones and their politico-spiritual potential.

Second, enhancing the quality of cadres and the effectiveness of coordination in the building of defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential. A focus should be placed on improving the qualities and capacity of cadres, particularly the all-level key and political ones and making them capable of directing and guiding the building of defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential. Significance should be attached to improving the political qualities, ethics, lifestyle, and research, staff, and direction capacity of cadres and especially key ones. Due regard should be paid to actively organizing refresher courses for political cadres of local military offices and a contingent of instructors and communicators. It is necessary to closely, frequently cooperate with central and local offices and the VPA General Staff in designing documents for defence and security propagation and education. Besides, consideration should be given to directing the cooperation between the party committees of the military regions and Hanoi Capital High Command and the provincial-level party committees as well as between military party committees and local party committees and authorities in performing the task.

Third, further renewing the content, form, and method of building defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential. In this regard, importance should be attached to proactively taking part in completing and smoothly operating the mechanism for leading, directing, and commanding the building and operation of defensive zones. Great value should be attached to proposing the content, form, and method of building the politico-spiritual potential within defensive zones as well as concretizing the Article No.26 on building the politico-spiritual, cultural, and social potential and the Article No.10 on ensuring uniformity in building the military regions’ defensive potential according to the Decree 21/2019/NĐ-CP. A focus should be placed on renewing the form and method of introducing and disseminating the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, the work of political education and ideological management, defence and security mission, and the party and political work during defensive zone exercises. At the same time, units across the Military should creatively, flexibly organize military training marches associated with the mass mobilisation work, diversify the content, form, and method of twinning military units with locals, take part in implementing the policy for martyrs’ families, war invalids, and families with meritorious services to revolution, the Army Rear policy, and other social welfare ones, well execute emulation movements and campaigns, and build local cultural and spiritual life. Local party committees and authorities should grasp the people’s ideology, aspirations, and issues to avoid causing flashpoints and prevent the hostile forces from stepping up their sabotage plan.

Fourth, stepping up the work of fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints and defending the Party’s ideological foundation, guidelines, and policies. To that end, we need to promote a sense of proactiveness and flexibility on the ideological and theoretical front to combat the hostile forces and political opportunists’ wrong viewpoints and their plots and artifices of sabotage against our revolution in order to safeguard the Party’s ideological foundation. It is necessary to build up our cadres, party members, armed forces, and people’s “immunity” against the hostile forces’ wrong, distorted information and their plots to incite separations between the Party, State, Military, and the people as well as between the Military and the Public Security Force. Doing so will help consolidate the people’s faith in the Party, regime, Military, and local party committees and authorities and encourage them to join hands in making localities and defensive zones strong and capable of effectively dealing with all situations.

Fifth, attaching great value to reviewing the party and political work and the building of defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential. The GPD will develop the programs/plans, work with central offices and sectors, and direct the military regions, provincial-level military commands, Border Guard Force Command, and provincial-level border guard commands to review the building of the politico-spiritual potential within provincial and district-level defensive zones. Doing so will allow us to draw lessons, seek and apply good, creative, effective models and approaches to refresher courses on improving the capacity to carry out the party and political work in the building of defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential among the all-level party committees, political offices, political cadres, and commanders of local offices and units.

Over the years, the GPD has proved its role of utmost importance to building defensive zones’ politico-spiritual potential. In the new situation, the GPD would continue promoting its role in leading, directing, orientating the building of the politico-spiritual potential as the basis for building and bringing into play other types of potential so as to create the synergy of defensive zones, build comprehensively strong all-people national defence, and meet the requirements set by the country’s renewal cause and the task of constructing and defending the Vietnamese Socialist Homeland.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Do Can, Deputy Head of the GPD