Building provinces and centrally-run cities into solid defensive areas is a strategic policy of the Party and the State. As the core force in national defence, the Army continues to adhere to its functions and tasks, effectively conducting advisory, directive, and organisational work in the building of solid defensive areas in the new situation, thus creating synergy in firmly protecting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam early and from afar.

With a profound understanding of the strategic position and role of provincial and city-level defensive areas in the cause of national construction and defence, in recent years, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence have coordinated with relevant agencies to advise the Party and the State in issuing numerous guiding documents for building solid defensive areas in the spirit of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW, dated 22 September 2008, by the Politburo (10^th tenure) and the Resolution of the 8^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th tenure) on “Strategy for safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation”. Concurrently, they have directed units to actively implement these documents, ensuring suitability for each locality, region, and the entire country. The Army, in general, and local military agencies, in particular, have effectively promoted their pivotal role in coordinating and advising party committees and authorities at all levels to comprehensively execute the building of defensive areas. This includes advising localities on enhancing state management in national defence; promoting the integration of socio-economic development with the strengthening of national defence, security, and foreign affairs; building an all-people national defence posture intertwined with the people’s security posture; and developing potential and posture of defensive areas, planning, and investing in building an increasingly solid military posture in defensive areas. Guidance was also provided for sectors and localities to develop mobilisation plans for national defence and plans to ensure national defence needs in the first year of war, in alignment with socio-economic development conditions.

Units within the Army have exemplified their roles as the “working forces”, actively engaging in mobilisation work and the establishment of grassroots political systems, assisting people in eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, and mitigating and overcoming the consequences of natural disasters. Notably, the Army has intensified the construction and development of economic-defence zones, effectively building a solid all-people national defence posture and a robust “people’s hearts and minds” posture, especially in key areas, borders, seas, islands, and strategic directions of the country. Additionally, these units have closely coordinated with other forces to grasp and accurately forecast situations to advise party committees and authorities at all levels for timely handling of national defence and security situations, thus maintaining political security, social order, and safety, avoiding being passive or stunned. These actions have significantly demonstrated the Army’s role, awareness, and high political responsibility in implementing the Party’s strategic policy, contributing immensely to the construction of defensive areas at all levels. The construction of defensive areas has gained comprehensive and crucial results. These are: the effectiveness and efficiency of leadership, management, and administration in building defensive areas by local party committees and authorities have been enhanced; the mechanisms for leading and directing activities in defensive areas are gradually being perfected; and the potential, posture, and strength of defensive areas, especially their economic and political-spiritual potential, the “people’s hearts and minds” posture, the military posture, etc. have been reinforced. Besides, attention is given to turning the local armed forces into “elite, compact, and strong” forces that have high level of overall quality, capacity, and combat readiness. Basically, the activities of local defensive areas have met the requirements and tasks of national construction and defence.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Huynh Chien Thang works with Ho Chi Minh City on building defensive area

Currently, peace, cooperation, and development remain the dominant trends. However, there are complex and unpredictable developments in the global and regional situations as major powers are intensifying strategic adjustments, engaging both in competition and compromise and increasingly using soft power to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries. The trend of localised wars, armed conflicts, separatist activities, territorial sovereignty disputes, and the use of force, including the threat of nuclear weapons for deterrence, is on the rise. Moreover, terrorism and cyber-attacks are posing great challenges to global security. In our country, hostile forces continue to intensify their subversive efforts through the strategy of “Peaceful evolution”, promoting internal “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, inciting separatist and violent ideologies to destabilise and create pretexts for external intervention. There exist destabilising factors in the East Sea and related areas that can lead to unpredictable developments. Besides, the task of national protection poses high requirements and faces new challenges. To establish a solid foundation for national protection “early and from afar, before the country encounters dangers”, there is a need to accelerate the construction of solid provincial and city-level defensive areas, and the Army must continue to promote its pivotal role in executing this strategic policy and task. Accordingly, the entire Army needs to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the key measures as follows:

1. Excelling in its advisory function, enhancing the capability and effectiveness of state management in building defensive areas.

Agencies and units across the armed forces, primarily the party committees, commanders, and strategic offices, must continue to thoroughly grasp the resolutions, directives, and decrees of the Party and the State on building defensive areas, understanding the objectives and guiding principles. Based on this, they should conduct effective research and strategic forecasting, proactively advising the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on policies and measures for building defensive areas in line with practical situations. The focus is on researching and advising to enhance the leadership, direction, and management capabilities of party committees and authorities, especially the mechanisms of leadership, direction, and coordination between party committees and high commands of military regions with provincial (city) party committees and people’s committees; and between provincial (city) party committees and people’s committees with military party committees and steering councils of defensive areas at the same level. Attention is also given to the mechanisms and regulations for the operations of the Steering Councils of military regions, the steering councils of defensive areas, and the Supply Councils of defensive areas. Agencies and units continue to advise on creating breakthroughs in building the potential, forces, and posture of defensive areas, taking the solid construction of the “people’s hearts and minds” posture and the comprehensive strengthening of communes, wards, and towns, especially in strategic areas, as the basis. This helps to ensure the effective realisation of the principle: “communes protecting communes, districts protecting districts, and provinces protecting provinces” in the war to protect the Fatherland.

Additionally, agencies and units, particularly military agencies of provinces and cities, should actively advise and assist party committees and authorities in reviewing and supplementing action programmes, plans, and projects to implement Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW in conjunction with the execution of the Resolution of the 8^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (13^th tenure) on “Strategy for safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation” and various specialised strategies, hence ensuring feasibility and suitability to the characteristics of local and grassroots areas. Functional agencies within the Ministry of National Defence need to enhance coordination, urging and inspecting the building of defensive areas by localities, effectively performing their advisory function for the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence while directing and guiding the implementation process. In the immediate term, agencies and units should focus on the task of directing and guiding the preliminary review of the 5-year implementation of the Government’s Decree No. 21/NĐ-CP dated 22 February 2019, regarding defensive areas, drawing lessons and experiences to improve the quality and effectiveness of the construction and the operation of defensive areas in the new situation.

2. Stepping up political and ideological education, cultivating national defence and security knowledge for different groups and the people, and building the political and spiritual potential of defensive areas, with a focus on an increasingly robust “people’s hearts and minds” posture.

The Army, in general, and military agencies at all levels, in particular, need to promote their role as the standing bodies of the National Defence and Security Education Council, actively coordinating with local departments and sectors to advise local party committees and authorities on intensifying political education, improving the quality and effectiveness of national defence and security education for different groups and the people, especially key officials in the political system and specific target groups. The content of propaganda, education, and training should be comprehensive, with specific focuses. This includes thoroughly grasping and clarifying the Party’s viewpoints, policies, military and national defence strategies, and the policies for building defensive areas; the adversaries, partners, plots, and subversive tactics of hostile forces; the relationship between economy and national defence; and the results, experiences, and effective models of localities in building defensive areas. This initiative aims to create a more significant shift in the awareness and responsibility of the people towards the tasks of building defensive areas and safeguarding the Fatherland.

Military units should continue to promote their role as the “working forces”, actively engaging in mobilisation work and the establishment of robust grassroots political systems and taking the lead in implementing national campaigns, programmes, and objectives. This includes aiding people in eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, building new-style rural areas, and preventing, combating, and mitigating the consequences of natural disasters. Through these efforts, military units can solidify and enhance the military-civilian solidarity, building an increasingly solid “people’s hearts and minds” posture, especially in key, remote, distant, border, and maritime areas. In addition, they proactively identify and counter distorted ideologies and formalistic tendencies in the construction and operation of defensive areas.

3. Promoting participation in labour and production, developing the economy in conjunction with national defence, thus contributing to the enhancement of the potential and strength of defensive areas and the country.

Agencies and units should base their actions on the specific situation of each locality, area, and project to proactively coordinate and advise ministries, sectors, and localities on promoting socio-economic development combined with strengthening national defence and security potential, especially in reviewing and thoroughly assessing plans, programmes, and projects for socio-economic development, ensuring that each step of socio-economic development is a step to strengthen national defence and security potential in each area and nationwide. The Army must continue to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement Resolution No. 820-NQ/QUTW, dated 17 December 2021, by the Central Military Commission on “Leading the task of labour and production, integrating economic development with national defence in the Army until 2030”, enhancing the role of the “labour and production army” in the new era, elevating the Army’s participation in production and economic development combined with national defence to new heights, making this task increasingly profound, practical, and effective. Importance is attached to gathering resources to accelerate the construction and improve the effectiveness of economic-defence zones, creating a strong economic-defence posture in strategic areas, borders, seas, and islands; and pushing for innovation and enhancing the efficiency of military enterprises, especially the development of defence industrial corporations, thus laying the foundation for strengthening national defence potential and modernising the Army, meeting the requirements of national defence.

4. Focusing on leading and directing the building of strong three-component armed forces that have high overall quality and combat strength, capable of serving as the core for the construction and operation of defensive areas.

To accomplish this objective, the Army, particularly the military regions and provincial and city-level military agencies, should continue to intensify efforts to achieve breakthroughs in force organisation, training, regularity building, and discipline observance, building “elite, compact, and strong” armed forces with high combat readiness. During the implementation process, agencies, units, and localities should pay attention to effectively conducting political and ideological education for officers and soldiers. They should continuously enhance leadership and combat capabilities for party organisations and party members. Besides, they should combine the building of politically, ideologically, ethically, and organisationally strong party organisations with the building of a team of officers with political and ideological steadfastness and unwavering commitment to the Fatherland, the Party, the State, and the people. These officers should excel in professionalism, expertise, and scientific working methods, with a strong determination to overcome difficulties to fulfil all assigned tasks. Furthermore, the regime of combat readiness should be strictly maintained at all levels, while combat and training plans should be regularly reviewed, adjusted, and supplemented. Importance should be attached to the effective organisation of defensive area exercises, with a focus on integrating provincial and city-level defensive area exercises with campaign-level and strategic exercises in different battlefields and areas, enhancing the coordination among various forces in handling national defence and security situations. Military regions and provincial and city-level military agencies should regularly review, supplement, and adjust the coordination plans between the Army and Public Security as per Government Decree No. 03/2019/NĐ-CP, accurately grasping and forecasting situations and devising strategies to successfully handle all situations, avoiding being passive or stunned.

Deeply understanding its functions and tasks, and thoroughly grasping the Party’s strategic policies, the Army continues to strive to effectively fulfil its pivotal role, together with the Party, the people, and the political system, build increasingly solid defensive areas, laying the foundation for the protection of the Fatherland early and from afar.

Senior Lieutenant General HUYNH CHIEN THANG, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army