In order to promote the synergy created by the province’s Party Organisation, authorities, sectors, forces, and people in the defence of territorial sovereignty and border security, the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) of Quang Nam has always encouraged the masses to participate in performing this important task via its synchronous, effective guidelines and measures.

First of all, the PBG Command has given advice on formulating documents, regulations, and programmes of coordination with local party committees, authorities, sectors, and unions to create a legal basis for effectively encouraging the masses to take part in the defence of national sovereignty and border security. The PBG Command and border guard posts have signed 20 statutes and programmes of coordination with border districts and communes to facilitate the implementation of projects and models and obtain consensus, leadership, direction, and resources from border areas’ party committees, authorities, unions, and citizens. To achieve such a consensus, the PBG has heightened a sense of responsibility for the people via specific, effective deeds; as a result, the people in border areas have enthusiastically, actively participated in protecting national sovereignty and border security with a lot of programmes, activities, border line and marker self-management teams, and self-management security teams at village level. Fisheries unions and teams have committed to taking part in defending national sovereignty over seas and islands with effective activities. Up to now, nearly 49,000 households have committed themselves to implement the movement of “all people’s participation in COVID-19 and illegal immigration prevention and combat.” Many collectives, households, and individuals have been committed to self-consciously removing and fighting against depraved customs, social evils, and “evil way” religions as well as actively taking part in managing, increasing, and consolidating the system of national border markers. At the same time, due attention has been paid to promoting the masses’ role in protecting the assigned border sections and markers, clearing hundreds of kilometres of border patrol roads and routes to border markers, and providing thousands of pieces of valuable information for the PBG, local authorities, and competent offices to settle incidents relating to national sovereignty, border security, and social order and safety.

The PBG’s medical team taking care of border citizens’ health

The movement of all people’s participation in defending national sovereignty and border security within the province has both widely and deeply developed with a combination of socio-economic, cultural development and border management and protection, mobilised the synergy created by the political system, local unions, and the masses, and made a new positive change in cadres and citizens’ awareness and responsibility for this important task. Thanks to our Party and State’s leadership and direction as well as the province’s guidelines and preferential treatment policies for socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation in border areas, the people’s material and mental life has been gradually improved, while territorial sovereignty and border security have been guaranteed.

However, due to large land and sea border areas, harsh climate conditions, poor infrastructures and traffic systems, and the people’s deprived educational background, particularly in land border areas, the people are confronted with a lot of difficulties in their daily life, the rate of poor households is high, and a number of depraved customs still exist. Besides, hostile forces are taking advantage of issues on “ethnicity,” “religion,” “democracy,” and “human rights” to incite and separate the people and destabilise the province’s border areas. Against such a backdrop, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command resolutely better improve mass mobilisation work to create the synergy in defending territorial sovereignty and border security via synchronous, effective measures, with a focus on the following.

First, actively advise the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee on effectively encouraging the masses to take part in protecting national sovereignty and border security. As the Standing Agency of the Provincial Steering Board for Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg, dated January 9^th, 2015 on “organising the movement of all people’s participation in defending national territorial sovereignty and border security in the new situation,” the PBG Command should continue promoting its core role in counselling, developing, and executing statutes and programmes of coordination with all-level party committees, authorities, sectors, unions, and Fatherland Fronts. At the same time, it should direct border guard posts to supplement, sign, and effectively implement programmes of coordination with border districts and communes in accordance with each locality’s particularities.

Second, enhance the work of propagation and education to raise the people’s awareness and responsibility. To that end, emphasis should be placed on disseminating the Party’s guidelines, the State’s laws and policies, border-related Agreements and Regulations, and laws on crime, drug trafficking, and social evil prevention and combat as well as weapon and support tool management. In the process, it is necessary to renew forms and methods of propagation and education and closely combine the work of propagation and education with the performance of border defence work and the building of border areas via approaches and visual models that are easy to understand, easy to remember, and appropriate to each area’s practical conditions and the people’s educational background. Border guard posts and mass mobilisation teams must rely on local party committees and authorities, closely cooperate with local sectors and organisations, bring into play the role of village patriarchs, village heads, and persons with great prestige to improve the quality and effectiveness of propagation and mass mobilisation, and realise the Project on “enhancing law dissemination and education for cadres and citizens in border, sea, island areas.” At the same time, significance should be attached to disseminating the outcome of the movement of all people’s participation in protecting national territorial sovereignty and border security and the annual “All-People Border Defence Day” through central and local mass media. Doing so will help raise the people’s awareness of sacred territorial sovereignty and national border, increase the people’s revolutionary vigilance against hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and encourage citizens to actively take part in national border protection.

Third, proactively collaborate with local party committees, authorities, sectors, and unions in building comprehensively strong political bases, fostering socio-economic development, and improving the people’s material and mental life in border areas. There is a fact that the stability of national sovereignty and border security is always associated with border areas’ comprehensive robustness. Therefore, the PBG’s Party Committee and Command should proactively cooperate with local party committees, authorities, sectors, and unions and units stationed in border areas to grasp situations and opportunely give advice to local party committees and authorities on guidelines and measures for consolidating and improving organisations within the grass-roots level political system. Besides, it is essential to continue deploying the PBG’s cadres to work at border communes, assigning the PBG’s party members to provide assistance for border households, and requiring border guard posts’ party members to attend party cells’ meetings at village level.

Under the spirit of “respecting the people, staying close to the people, understanding the people, learning from the people, and fulfilling responsibilities for the people,” cadres and soldiers of the PBG should “live and work with the people,” actively take part in boosting socio-economic, cultural development, and help the people with hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and new-style countryside construction. At the same time, the PBG should multiply and effectively realise its programmes and models, such as “accompanying frontier women,” “supporting children’s schooling,” “providing breeding cows for the poor,” “border guard posts’ adopted children,” and “jars of rice of affection.” It should cooperate with the province’s departments, committees, sectors, and unions in mobilising resources to construct Houses of Great Unity, Truong Son Houses of Affection, Dream Houses for the Elderly, Houses of Charity, and public works for the people’s daily life. It should collaborate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and all-level Farmers’ Unions in providing seedlings, breeding animals, and technical instructions for the people’s production. Cadres and soldiers of the PBG should encourage ethnic minority people to build a new cultural lifestyle, remove depraved customs, and promote their cultural identity via cultural and artistic exchange programmes. More importantly, they should always remain proactive and ready as the core force in helping the people to prevent and combat natural disasters and epidemics.

Implementing those above-mentioned measures will enable the PBG of Quang Nam to continue stepping up its mass mobilisation work and bringing into play the synergy created by the entire political system and people from all walks of life to firmly protect territorial sovereignty and border security within the province.

Sr. Col. HOANG VAN MAN, Commissar of the PBG