In 2024, the world and region witnessed many great upheavals with rapid, complex, unpredictable developments. Strategic competition, arms race, military alliances, wars, conflicts, terrorism, and violent uprisings occurred in many regions and countries, deeply affecting global stability and development. Domestically, as a result of seizing favourable opportunities and overcoming difficulties and challenges, the entire Party, people, and military stayed united, exerted efforts, successfully fulfilled goals and tasks, and achieved many important, comprehensive accomplishments, leaving remarkable imprints. Despite these achievements, we still faced numerous difficulties and challenges due to the negative impacts of the international and regional situation as well as extremely complex natural disasters that had caused serious widespread damage. Hostile forces, reactionary elements, and political opportunists at home and abroad aggressively exploited sensitive issues to sabotage the Party, State, and military through sophisticated and malicious tactics. In this context, the Central Military Commission (CMC), the Ministry of National Defence (MND), and party committees at all levels concentrated on leading and directing the entire military to unite, unify, and demonstrate high determination, proactiveness, and creativity to surmount difficulties and challenges to comprehensively fulfill 13 groups of tasks for 2024, contributing to the basic completion of 15 groups of tasks set out by the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress, of which many tasks were completed excellently.

The year 2025, as determined by the 12th Congress of the CMC and the 2024 Military Political Congress, is a year of acceleration and breakthrough, with the determination to successfully accomplish the goals, targets, and tasks set out by the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress and the Resolution of 11th Military Party Congress. At the same time, it is a year of convening party congresses at all levels towards the 14th Party Congress and many other significant anniversaries of the Party and the country. The apparatus of the political system undergoes many changes. Meanwhile, the world situation is forecasted to continue experiencing significant and rapidly changing, more complex developments. Adjustments in policies and strategic competition among major powers and centres of power will intensify. Conflicts, wars, social instability, and non-traditional security threats such as cyber security, climate change, environmental pollution, natural disasters, and epidemics will adversely impact the security and development of all countries. The Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions continue to be dynamic development centres, but are also the key arena for strategic rivalry among great powers, with potential conflicts. Domestically, after nearly 40 years of reform, the country’s potential, international status, and reputation have been elevated, serving as an important foundation for the continued construction, development, and protection of the Fatherland. However, alongside the significant achievements, our country still faces many difficulties and challenges. Hostile forces, reactionary elements, and political opportunists at home and abroad continue to intensify “peaceful evolution,” promote “self-evolution,” “self-transformation,” and “depoliticisation” of the military through increasingly cunning and insidious tactics.

General Phan Van Giang speaks at the Armywide military-political conference for 2024

The world and domestic situations present a mix of favourable conditions, opportunities, difficulties, and challenges, posing new demands and heavier responsibilities for the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. To successfully fulfill the tasks of 2025 and the goals and missions set out by the 11th Military Party Congress requires the entire military to strengthen unity and consensus, overcome difficulties, and decisively implement some following key solutions.

First, it is necessary to enhance strategic research, accurately assess emerging situations, and timely provide the Party and the State with policies and stratagems to ensure the highest national interests, firmly safeguarding independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland. Departments and units in the entire military, first and foremost the strategic advisory agencies, need to proactively and sensitively promote research and accurately analyse situations, especially strategic issues, intentions, and actions of great powers, and global developments that directly impact military and defence tasks. Based on this, they timely advise the CMC and the MND to propose flexible, appropriate policies and strategies for the Party and the State to proactively handle situations successfully without being passive and surprised. In research, recommendation, and implementation, it is essential to focus on comprehensive, fundamental, long-term solutions and attach importance to studying new trends, thus effectively preventing the risk of conflicts and wars from afar. There is a need to propose the promulgation and effective implementation of resolutions, strategies, plans, projects, and legal documents on military and defence, especially the solutions to mobilise resources for building a modern military.

It is important to synchronously and decisively implement solutions to protect the Fatherland from afar; enhance combat readiness; tightly control borders, inland areas, airspace, maritime zones, and cyberspace; proactively respond to traditional, non-traditional security challenges; adjust, supplement, and improve the system of operational documents; adjust the strategic deployment of some units; tightly manage and protect defence structures and military areas in accordance with the law. They are to advise and synchronously carry out commemorative activities and the Parade Plan for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the complete liberation of the South and national reunification as well as the 80th anniversary of the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, demonstrating the power of the military, the country’s development, and the glorious history of the nation.

Second, the military’s comprehensive strength and core role in building and consolidating a strong all-people national defence and robust defence zones at all levels should be further promoted. Building an all-people national defence is to create the comprehensive power of the country in terms of politics, military, security, economy, culture, science, technology, etc., to maintain peace and stability, prevent and push back the risk of war, and be ready to win invasive wars in all forms and scales. This is an important, regular task of the entire Party, people, military, levels, sectors, localities, and the entire political system. The country’s comprehensive power is built from overall factors and characterised by all-people, comprehensive, independent, self-mastery, self-reliant, resilient, and strong nature with a view to creating comprehensive, balanced, and synchronous strength, in which military power is the key element and the people’s armed forces plays the core role. All departments and units in the entire military, therefore, need to closely work with commissions, ministries, and agencies at the central level and localities to synchrounsly and effectively implement the Party’s strategies, resolutions, conclusions and the legal system regarding military and defence.

It is necessary to concentrate on perfecting mechanisms, policies, and laws to enhance defence capabilities; actively mobilise resources effectively to create comprehensive power for building and strengthening the all-people national defence, the all-people defence posture, and the people’s security posture in connection with the “people’s heart and mind posture”, with a focus on building strong defence posture of military regions and defence zones at all levels; combine defence and security with socio-economic development and diplomacy in a close, effective manner, especially in strategic, key, remote, border, sea, and island areas. There is a need to coordinate leadership and direction to enhance quality of military, defence work in commissions, ministries, and agencies at the central level and localities; timely address difficulties in transforming, planning, managing, and using land for national defence; improve quality of defence and security education and building the militia and reserve; jointly maintain political security, social order, and safety, ensuring stability for national development.

Third, emphasis is placed on building a clean, strong, exemplary, and leading Military Party Committee in terms of party building and constructing a politically strong military. Party committees, party organisations, and the entire military continue to thoroughly grasp, concretise, and effectively implement resolutions and directives of the Central Committee on party building and rectification, military tasks, national defence, and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation. In the near term, the focus is on preparing and successfully convening party congresses at all levels and the 12th Military Party Congress in a truly exemplary, representative manner; participate with the highest responsibility and best quality in the activities to serve the 14th Party Congress. The military is to continue to promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style; resolutely and persistently struggle against erroneous, hostile views; prevent and push back signs of degradation, “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation” to firmly maintain the Party’s ideological front within the military. Party committees, party organisations, and the entire military strictly implement regulations on what party members are not allowed to do; take responsibility to set examples; uphold the revolutionary ethical standards of cadres and party members; detect, prevent, and stop violations by party organisations and members; prevent and combat corruption, wastefulness, and wrongdoings. They are to regularly innovate leadership styles, management methods, and command and control in the spirit of “daring to do seven things”; further promote the inspection, supervision, and disciplinary enforcement work of the Party, ensuring close adherence to political tasks and party building work, with a focus on regular supervision, early detection, timely handling and decisively combating wrongdoings without causing lingering effect. Departments and units in the military must timely strengthen and improve the comprehensive leadership capacity and combat power of party committees and party organisations to meet requirements and tasks of building the military and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new era.

The entire military continues to closely and effectively carry out political education and ideological leadership with a focus on activities to commemorate major events and celebrate party congresses at all levels. Departments and units are to promote the “Determination to Win” Emulation Movement, prepare and successfully organise the 11th “Determination to Win” Emulation Congress of the military, comprehensively implement internal political protection work to proactively prevent and combat subversive activities of hostile forces and safeguard state secrets, military secrets, and the security and safety of military operations. At the same time, the military will effectively perform its function as “an army for work,” actively participate in economic, cultural, and social development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, elimination of temporary and dilapidated houses, disaster recovery, and building of new-style countryside, civilised urban area, and strong “people’s heart and mind posture.” It will take care of building strong mass organisations and councils of military personnel, effectively promote their roles and performance in line with their functions and tasks, and enhance the effectiveness of party work and political work in their missions.

Fourth, it is determined to overcome all difficulties and accelerate implementation of the three breakthrough, goals, and tasks set out in the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress. The year 2025 is the final year of implementing the Resolution of the Military Party Committee for the period of 2020-2025 with many pivotal goals and tasks. The entire military, therefore, needs to continue to implement measures vigorously and synchronously, focusing on completing the goals and tasks identified in the whole-term programme with quality and on schedule. First and foremost, it must deeply grasp and effectively implement the Party’s resolutions and directives on military, defence tasks and safeguarding the country with a focus on operationalising the programmes, plans, and projects to implement the Resolution of the 8th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (13th tenure) on the Strategy to Safeguard the Fatherland in the New Situation.

The entire military concentrates on successfully making three breakthroughs set out in the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress. First and foremost, it must fundamentally complete the building of an elite, compact, strong military according to the Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW, dated 17 January 2022, of the Politburo on the organisation of Viet Nam People’s Army in the 2021-2030 period and the following years and the Party Central Committee’s guideline for renewing and restructuring the apparatus of the political system in an adept, compact, efficient, effective direction, ensuring that the newly established, merged, and reorganised units have stable continuity and successfully fulfil their tasks. The military actively innovates and improves the quality of education and training tailored to the subjects, technical equipment, organisation, and staffing, ensuring closeness and adherence to mottos, viewpoints, principles, and combinations; organise exercises and competitions as well as participate in domestic and international sports events with high results. It must resolutely and synchronously implement measures to build representative, exemplary comprehensive, strong units, providing a solid foundation for building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern military; timely develop and issue specific documents that guide the implementation of the State’s policies and laws on military and national defence; strictly maintain order and discipline while promoting inspection and punishment to minimise violations of law and discipline and unsafety; actively research and implement measures to accelerate the construction of e-government, administrative reform in the military, and digital transformation in the MND, contributing to improving the effectiveness of the work.

In addition, the entire military promotes the spirit of self-mastery, self-reliance, resilience, and effective implementation of programmes, projects, and plans for logistics, technology, military science, and defence industry, ensuring good support for tasks and soldiers’ life. Emphasis is placed on research and application of science and technology in military technical field and the establishment of special policies and mechanisms to mobilise resources for the defence industry; investing in and developing the defence industry’s potential in a modern and dual-use direction; resolutely implementing key projects and product groups identified in the Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW, dated January 26, 2022, of the Politburo (13th tenure) on stepping up the development of the defence industry by 2030 and beyond.

Fifth, it is important to enhance the effectiveness of international integration and defence diplomacy, contributing to creating posture and power to protect the Fatherland from afar. On the basis of thoroughly grasping the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress, the Resolution No. 34-NQ/TW, dated 9 January 2023, of the Politburo on some major guidelines and policies to implement the foreign policy of the 13th Party Congress, the Conclusion No. 53-KL/TW, dated 28 April 2023, of the Politburo, and the direction of the CMC and the MND on implementing international integration and defence diplomacy by 2030 and the following years, departments and units actively and proactively adopt many measures to further enhance the implementation quality and effectiveness of this important task and consider it a strategic direction and stratagem to protect the Fatherland from afar through peaceful means. Accordingly, the military actively participates in the diplomatic activities of leaders of the Party and State; proactively takes part in multilateral defence cooperation mechanisms within the framework of ASEAN, harmoniously handling relations with countries; continues to maintain and strengthen bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation; enhances cooperation to build and consolidate strategic trust with neighbouring countries, regional countries, major powers, strategic partners, comprehensive partnerships, and traditional friends; effectively implements programmes, projects to deal with the aftermaths of war and involve in peacekeeping operations of the United Nations; successfully organise defence diplomacy activities on the occasion of major national events and the defence diplomacy programme in 2025.

The year 2025 is of significant importance, thus the entire military needs to elevate the spirit of unity and makes efforts to rapidly and successfully complete the goals, targets, and tasks set out in the Resolution of the 11th Military Party Congress, contributing to efforts of the entire Party and people to move our country into a new era, the era of rise, firmly safeguarding the socialist Fatherland in all circumstances.

General, Doctor PHAN VAN GIANG, Member of the Politburo, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defence