The 12^th National Party Congress’ Resolution underlines that “there should be a strategy to prevent the risk of wars and conflicts from afar”, which inherits the nation’s thought on “protecting the country before it is put at risk” in the new situation. Grasping that viewpoint is of importance to the Homeland protection in general and the national border protection in particular.

Defending the Homeland from afar includes the elements of time and space and the necessary preparations to create the advantages and strength for the country prior to the risk of wars and conflicts. In other words, protecting the Homeland from afar means preventive measures and preparations in terms of both potential and posture right in peacetime as well as plans for Homeland defence from the outside of the border. Vietnam’s history reveals that feudal dynasties in our country always attached great importance to defending the Homeland from afar with many measures and strategies; they “eased the people’s burden”, cemented the unity within the society and the relations with their neighbours to avoid conflicts, and made their military powerful as the basis for safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity and border.

As the core force in charge of managing and protecting the national border, since its inception, the Border Guard Force (BGF) has proudly inherited the nation’s tradition and valuable experiences in managing and protecting the national border and flexibly employed them in the new condition. Over the past 60 years of construction, combat, and development, the BGF has executed many specific action programs which have practically contributed to improving the people’s life, particularly in the remote, isolated, border, sea, island, and ethnic minority inhabited areas. It has proactively recommended the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) to advise the Party and State on implementing many programs and plans for developing the infrastructure and traffic system, completing the policies for socio-economic development, and strengthening defence-security in the border areas. It has also actively counselled the CMC and the MND to organize the Border Defence Friendship Exchange Programs between Vietnam and China, Vietnam and Laos, and Vietnam and Cambodia, thereby consolidating the friendship and solidarity between those countries’ border defence forces and contributing to defending the Homeland from afar.

The delegations of China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar participating in the 3rd border defence friendship exchange program visiting the Border Guard Academy

In recent years, the BGF has cooperated with ministries, sectors, and localities in implementing the programs for the Homeland’s border, seas, and islands, such as “military-civilian medical program”, “helping the women in the border areas”, and “presenting breeding cows to the poor in the border areas”. It should be noted that in the program entitled “supporting children’s schooling”, the BGF has sponsored 2,884 students living in difficulty in the border areas (including 87 Laotian ones and 99 Cambodian ones) and managed to persuade over 100,000 children to go to school. Besides, the BGF has advised local party committees and authorities on establishing 1,587 self-management teams (49,724 households self-managing over 4,215 kilometres of borderline and 3,141 border markers) and 3,219 groups of vessels (22,712 vessels) at sea, which has been highly appreciated by local party committees and authorities and contributed to cementing the close-knit bond between “green-badge soldiers - Uncle Ho’s soldiers” and the ethnic minority people in the border areas and making each citizen a “living border marker” to safeguard the national border sovereignty and security.

Currently, we are implementing the viewpoint on defending the Homeland from afar in the conditions of increasingly deep and wide international integration with the intertwined benefits between cooperation and competition. Disputes over sovereignty and territory are still complex and possibly lead to armed conflicts and local wars. Several countries take advantage of technology and use “soft border” and “soft power” to step up their intervention and compete for influence in many regions around the world, particularly in the Southeast Asia. Thus, to protect the Homeland from afar, it is necessary to take preventive measures and make elaborate preparations right in peacetime so as to readily successfully deal with all possible situations and safeguard the national sovereignty, territory and border. To proactively settle the situations, the BGF should focus on the following.

First, being fully aware that the task of national border management and protection is part of the two strategic tasks of Homeland construction and protection. In the process, the BGF should closely combine border construction with border management and protection, with the former playing the central role and the latter acting as an important part. Doing so will provide a solid foundation for defending the Homeland from afar. The BGF must closely cooperate with ministries, sectors, and localities in giving advice to the Party and State on various measures for making plans on residential areas and socio-economic development in the border areas, particularly on border gate economic zones effectively in order to improve the ethnic minority people’s life and meet the requirements set by defence and security. In the process, it is vital to grasp and correctly employ the guidelines on “opening and guarding the border gates at the same time” and “maintaining the country’s law and discipline” as well as create the most favourable condition for the peoples from the two sides of the border to visit their relatives and for the development of trade and tourism. In the work of inspection and control, it is important to ensure the accuracy, quickness, and smoothness in order to serve the work of management, operation, command, and direction at all levels; to adopt the measures in a secret and public, comprehensive and focalized manner; to closely manage internal affairs, opportunely identify and strictly handle wrongdoings and negative practices to avoid the enemy’s infiltration and sabotage. Notably, it is necessary to be fully aware of the relationship between the national construction and protection in all fields, with emphasis placed on the economic, political, defence, security, and diplomatic fields to defend the Homeland from afar.

Second, continuing to grasp the Party’s resolutions and directives on the Homeland protection, with a focus on the Resolution of the 11^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on the Strategy for the Homeland protection in the new situation and the Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW, dated September 28^th 2018, on the Strategy for National Border Protection. Grasping the viewpoint on defending the Homeland from afar, the BGF should resolutely, persistently both “cooperate and struggle” to safeguard the national sovereignty, unification, territorial integrity, and benefits, deal with all disputes and differences by peaceful means, and adopt flexible, creative strategies. At the same time, it should more proactively cooperate with sectors and authorities in effectively managing and protecting the national border, with a focus on the CMC’s Action Program 88-CTr/QUTW, dated January 30^th 2019, on the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW. Besides, the BGF should attach importance to making its staff strong politically and expert in military, legal, and professional knowledge, foreign languages, and ethnic minority languages. It should proactively grasp the situation, assess and correctly forecast the complex situations that could happen, particularly in the key, strategic areas, opportunely detect and foil the hostile forces’ plots and acts of sabotage from the outside of the border. It also should well perform the work of border defence diplomacy and exchange programs with the neighbours’ border guard forces and peoples in order to build the border of peace, friendship, cooperation, and development.

Third, successfully performing the work of propagation to encourage the people in the border area to actively take part in managing and protecting the national border. To that end, the BGF should closely cooperate with sectors and local unions, particularly in the key areas, in well carrying out the work of education and propagation to raise the people’s awareness and responsibility towards the task of national border management and protection. First of all, it is important to disseminate the Strategy for National Border Protection and the Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg, dated January 9^th 2015, on organizing the movement of all people’s participation in protecting the national territorial sovereignty and border security in the new situation. To make this work effective, the BGF should continue to strictly implement the BGF Party Committee’s Directive 681-CT/ĐU, dated October 2018, on assigning party members to be in charge of households in the border areas. Border guard units and posts should actively take part in building pure, strong political system in their areas; put store by building an on-spot contingent of cadres, particularly ethnic minority cadres; help the people settle down in the border areas; step up the movement entitled “the masses take part in self-managing the borderline and border markers and maintaining border hamlets and villages’ security”. While encouraging all people in the border areas participating in managing and protecting the borderline and border markers, the BGF should foster international cooperation to manage, defend, and build the border of peace, stability, friendship, cooperation, development, civilization, and modernity.

Fourth, synchronously adopting the measures for the border defence work, grasping the situation in the areas and from the outside of the border and objects from afar. To defend the Homeland from afar, the BGF should synchronously take the armed, mass mobilization, reconnaissance, administrative, diplomatic, technical, and technological measures. It should proactively grasp the situation from the outside of the border and cooperate with other forces in identifying and neutralizing foreign individuals and organizations’ infiltration and acts of sabotage; attach great value to the work of mass mobilization in order to raise the people’s awareness; participate in building and making border communes strong in terms of economy, culture, society, politics, defence, and security. In addition to well performing the work of border defence diplomacy, border guard units and posts should advise local party committees and authorities on carrying out the work of people-to-people exchange and raise the effectiveness of twinning clusters of residential areas from the two sides of the border. Moreover, the BGF should proactively prevent the hostile forces from taking advantage of the issues on ethnicity and religion to sabotage our country, fight against the reactionary forces and political opportunists as well as strictly implement the Directive 5194/CT-BTL, dated December 6^th 2018, by the BGF Commander, on “enhancing the work of grasping and managing the situation in the border areas”, thereby contributing to stringently executing the Party’s viewpoint on defending the Homeland from afar.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Xuan Bac, PhD

Deputy Director of the Border Guard Academy