Quang Ninh is a coastal province, located in the border area of the Northeast of Vietnam, possessing a strategic position in economic, defence and security, and diplomatic fields. Perceiving the Party’s guideline and new thinking on protection of the Homeland in the new situation, stipulated in the documents of the 12^th National Party Congress, the Resolution of 11^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum, the Party Committee, armed forces and people of the Province have realized those throughout proper and effective measures. Over the past years, the Party Committee, People’s Council and Committee of Quang Ninh have led and directed the building of comprehensively developed province, with a focus on socioeconomic development combined with strengthened defence and security and the building of increasingly strong all people’s defence and defensive zone.

Comrade Nguyen Van Doc addressing a meeting with delegation of Ministry of National Defence, February 2017 (photo: qtv.vn)

The Province has directed the building and implementation of various plans and projects for socioeconomic development and strengthened defence and security, aiming at “building and making Quang Ninh an area of driving force, one of the most important traffic gateways of the Northern key economic zone to the region and the world, and a region having the dynamic and sustainable development of maritime and coastal economy”. With tireless efforts and strong resolve of the Province, over the past years, its economy has experienced considerable development; its economic structure has shifted to and witnessed high growth rate in the service sector; people’s living standards have considerably improved; its collected budget is always ranked among top 5 in the country. In the first 6 months of 2017 alone, the Province’s GRDP increased by 9.6%. It has always proactively combined socioeconomic development with defence and security right in strategies and plans for socioeconomic development to lay foundation for building defence and security potential and defensive zones, particularly in the areas of utmost importance , border areas and islands. Advocating that “it will not develop its economy at any rate, instead giving top priority to sustainability”, the Province has directed its sectors and localities to review, carefully assess and supervise the zoning and the planning of economic, industrial, export processing, and new urban zones in accordance with the planning of defence field, while resolutely not licensing projects in the fields and areas vulnerable to defence and security, particularly foreign-invested ones. Recently, it has mobilized resources and effectively implemented the Project “Facilitating rapid, sustainable socioeconomic development, ensuring strengthened defence and security, and piloting construction of the two special economic zones of Van Don and Mong Cai”, the Project “Building concentrated residential spots, giving employment to the people from ethnic groups in border areas; protecting and developing belt forests until 2020”, the “Plan for construction of Province’s region until 2030, vision to 2050 and beyond”. Realizing the guideline laid down by the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, sectors and localities have focused investments on construction of infrastructure and fostered socioeconomic development in border, coastal areas and islands in combination with strengthened defence and security. Many dual-use projects have been launched and gained the efficiency, such as the projects on building border belt road, border embankment, Trang Vi Cape road (Mong Cai city), economic-defence projects in coastal areas and islands of Tran, Co To, Ngoc Vung. Quang Ninh has been active in implementing the Project to take people to Tran island for residence to establish a commune-level administrational unit under Co To district. It has directed the Provincial Military Command in cooperation with Economic-Defence Corps No.327 to carry out projects on eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, and taking people to the border communes of utmost importance for residence, such as Hai Son, Luc Lam (Mong Cai city), Bac Phong Sinh (Hai Ha district), Dong Van, Trinh Tuong (Binh Lieu district), thereby contributing to increasingly strong all people’s defence posture in border directions, seas and islands of the Province.

Promoting the results gained, in the time to come, the Province will continue to concentrate its resources on crucial projects for enhanced socioeconomic development and strengthened defence and security, meeting the demands for Homeland protection and international integration, such as Van Don Special Administrative Economic Zone, Van Don airport, Van Gia seaport, Bac Luan No.2 bridge, Ha Long - Hai Phong, Ha Long - Van Don, and Ha Long - Mong Cai highways; while giving priority to developing border gate economic zones, maritime economic zones, industries, tourism, services in the dual-use direction.

Together with encouraged economic development and combination of economy and defence and security, the Province has attached great importance to strengthened defence and security in terms of both potential and posture. Accordingly, the Provincial Party Committee has released the Action Plan No.27-CTr/TU, the Directive No.11-CT/TU on enhanced leadership over the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution No.28-NQ/TW (10^th tenure), and the Resolutions No.2 and No.3-NQ/TU on leading the defence work during 2011-2015 and 2015-2020, laying a foundation for party committees and authorities at levels to build their action plans. From lessons learnt through the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution No.28-NQ/TW and the Government’s Decree 152/2007/NĐ-CP, the Province has unceasingly completed and seriously maintained regulations and mechanisms for building and operating the defensive zone, completed the structure of the defensive zone and enhanced its efficiency, while stepping up the building of potential of the defensive zone, meeting the requirements of its defence and security tasks in both short and long terms. To lay foundation for the building of all people’s defence, the Province has actively consolidated and completed the structure of political establishments, while speeding up the work of information, propagation and education of all people’s defence and improving people’s knowledge of defence and security. Quang Ninh is the first province in the country that has used its budget to build the Centre for Defence and Security Education under the Provincial Military School, and launched the “Military Semester Program” for high school and secondary school students in the area.

Besides, it has strengthened the work of state management of defence and security, directing its Military, Public Security and Border Guard organs to promote their core role in coordination, anticipation of the situation and counselling the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee to effectively deal with defence and security situations, safeguarding the area and national sovereignty over border, seas and islands. It has directed its localities to build and multiply the models of “Group of secure areas” and “Group of defence and security areas”, while deepening friendship, cooperation relations with the province of Guangxi (China) in the fields of management and protection of border, prevention and management of crime, and socioeconomic development. Moreover, the Province has focused its resources and budget on building the military posture in its defensive zone according to ratified plans and roadmap. Over the past years, it has spent hundreds of billion VND on the works, namely headquarters, combat base, rear base, campaign commanding positions, defensive works in border, coastal areas and islands in Dong Bac. At present time, it is accelerating the implementation of the Resolution No.3-NQ/TU by the Provincial Party Executive Committee on leading the defence task during 2015-2020, the Project on Quang Ninh’s defence support during 2015-2020, orientation to the year 2030. In this regard, it will continue to speed up the planning and building of components of the posture in its defensive zone. It strives to basically complete the construction of Logistics - Technical Base to become an example for the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 3 by the year 2018.

Building strong armed forces represents an important task of the Strategy to Defend the Homeland. Thus, great importance has been attached to leadership and direction over the building of strong Military and Public Security forces, making them the core in performing the defence and security tasks and protecting the Party, authorities and people. Accordingly, the Province has proactively completed the organizational structure of its armed forces in an “elite, lean, strong, well-proportioned, synchronous” manner, in line with each force’s functions and tasks, while building pure, strong military, border guard, public security party cells. Together with a focus on building “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” active armed forces, it has attached great importance to building the reserve force and the militia and self-defence force. Up to now, its reserve units have been staffed with 99.2%; the percentage of military professional reservists has reached 70%. Its militia and self-defence force has been made “strong, extensive”, with nearly 600 establishments. The percentage of militia and self-defence party members has reached 22.8%. The Province has successfully operated mobile militia platoons, coastal militia and self-defence platoons, and active militia sections in districts, towns and cities. Notably, it has been the first in the Military Region 3 to pilot the establishment of the self-defence force in foreign-invested enterprises. In the upcoming years, it will continue to build politically, ideologically, organizationally strong local armed forces, opening more training courses for reserve officers and commune-level military command cadres, setting up and carrying out the Project “Building Quang Ninh’s militia force in the regions of ethnic people, improving the quality and the effectiveness of militia detachments of border communes”. Also, it will continue to improve the quality of training and combat readiness to ensure that its armed forces deserve to be loyal, credible, political ones and the core to successfully carry out the Strategy to Defend the Homeland in the new situation, alongside party committees, authorities and people in the area of Quang Ninh province.

Nguyen Van Doc, Secretary of Quang Ninh Party Committee