Thoroughly grasping strategies and particularly new thoughts on the military-defence work and the Homeland protection expressed in the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress, the Navy has been adopting a lot of measures to raise its combat strength and satisfy the requirements of protecting the national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Correctly evaluating the situation on a domestic, regional, and global scale and the trend of the times, the 13^th National Party Congress has continued to affirm, supplement and develop basic viewpoints on the military-defence task and the Homeland protection in the new period. According to the Congress, we shall “build a revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) with several services, corps, and forces moving straight to modernity; from 2030, we shall build a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern VPA” as a central task. Under that spirit, the Navy’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on building a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern Navy. By 2025, the entire Navy will be basically modernised with the increasingly great synergy and combat power as the core force in safeguarding the national sovereignty over seas and islands and maintaining peace and stability at sea. To reach that goal, the Navy will continue synchronously implementing several fundamental measures as follows.

First, build a politically strong Navy as the basis for improving its synergy and combat strength. To that end, offices and units shall raise the quality and effectiveness of political education and ideological management, and further educate their troops on the tradition and virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers - Naval soldiers.” Importance should be attached to well executing the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period,” introducing the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines on the military-defence work and the Navy’s task to troops, clarifying the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and enabling troops to distinguish between partners and opponents in order to build up cadres and soldiers’ political zeal, determination, and faith in victory and encourage them to readily fight and sacrifice their life for defending the national sovereignty over seas and islands.

All-level party committees and commands shall keep grasping and well implementing the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 in tandem with the 13^th Politburo’s Conclusion 01-KL/TW, dated May 18^th, 2021 on continue realising the 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW  on “studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle.” Due attention should be paid to building typically pure, strong party organisations, enhancing their leadership capacity and combativeness, preserving and strengthening the Party’s leadership to ensure that the Navy will always be a loyal, reliable fighting force of the Party, the State and the people.

Second, continue to build and develop the force straight to modernity in line with the building of a firm posture of all-people national defence at sea. To possess a powerful force, a solid posture, and modern weapons and equipment, the Navy shall further consolidate its organisational structure and build a “compact, strong, mobile, flexible” force with a balance between personnel, materiel, and facility, including sufficient components, namely submarine, surface ship, naval air force, artillery - coastal missile, marine, and naval commando. In this regard, priority will be given to modernising weapons and means of reconnaissance and observation to grasp the situation at sea, particularly within the seas far from the coast and the contiguous zones. By 2025, the entire Navy shall be modernised with powerful on-the-spot and mobile forces and improve its capacity to control and manage the national sovereignty in peacetime and defend seas and islands in wartime. The coastal militia and self-defence force shall be made strong and extensive, while the reserve force shall be made powerful and ready for being mobilised in the event.

Commander of the Navy giving a national flag to fishermen of the islands of Truong Sa

In addition to force development, the Navy shall proactively advise the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) on measures to build a firm posture of all-people national defence that could be readily transformed into the posture of people’s warfare at sea. Emphasis should be placed on adjusting the deployment of forces at seas and on islands in accordance with the provincial and municipal defensive zone posture and the coastal military regions’ general defensive posture. Units of the Navy shall be able to both maintain combat coordination and promote their strengths in independent operations to win victory in any situation. Besides, the Navy shall encourage the role of its enterprises, factories, and economic-defence units in taking part in developing the marine economy in line with the defence of national sovereignty. It shall cooperate with other forces and localities in building socio-economic facilities and improving the people’s life in the sea, island area, while consolidating the system of logistics-technical bases, defensive constructions, bridges, and harbours, and supplementing modern, dual-purpose equipment. It shall propose the building of economic-defence zones to form the economic-defence posture within the all-people national defence posture at sea, particularly in the strategic, key sea, island zones.

Third, enhance training, military standard order building, discipline management, and administrative reform to achieve a solid positive change in troops’ technical, tactical capacity and their observance of discipline. The entire Navy shall keep grasping and realising the CMC’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW and the Naval Party Committee’s Resolution 1050-NQ/ĐUQC  on raising the quality of training in the period of 2013-2020 and beyond. In the training process, units shall adhere to the motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp,” make the training work relevant to objects of struggle and their combat projects, weapons, and equipment, provide synchronous, intensive training, and create a breakthrough in “mastering materiel and ensuring safety.” Consideration should be given to “maintaining strict discipline and technical support,” taking practice as the main, and regarding the defence of national sovereignty over seas and islands and the building of a regular, modern Navy as the goal of training. It is essential to increase night-time training and long training manoeuvre in the complex weather condition. Furthermore, it is important to actively apply information and simulation technologies to training and exercises, and well organise field, general, and joint exercise to improve troops’ technical and tactical capacity and cadres’ capabilities in command and staff work.

The Navy shall direct its academy and schools to raise the quality of training cadres, professional service men and women and technical employees to make contribute to building high-calibre human resources with good knowledge of tactics, technology and foreign languages and great teamwork skills in the international environment. The Navy’s professional service men and women shall be able to effectively exploit the existing weapons and technical equipment and readily receive modern ones. Offices and units shall combine military training with military standard order building and discipline management to make a positive change in troops’ law-abiding awareness. Due attention should be paid to promoting the administrative reform, renewing the working style and method in a scientific, close way, increasing all-level party committees and commands’ leadership and management efficiency and effectiveness.

Fourth, develop naval military science under the 4^th industrial revolution. Grasping the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines on the military-defence work, the Navy shall keep undertaking researches into Vietnamese people’s lessons on fighting enemies in rivers and at sea as well as in battles and operations during national liberation wars and the protection of national sovereignty over seas and islands. Grounded on such researches, it shall complete the system of theories of naval military art at tactical, campaign and strategic levels, while applying the all people’s warfare and the art of “taking the few against the many” in accordance with the development of the situation, object of struggle and its organisational structure, weapons, and technical equipment, and readily meeting the requirements set by joint operations in the air, on the ground, at sea, under the sea, and in cyberspace. At the same time, great value should be attached to applying scientific and technological advances to mastering, exploiting, preserving, maintaining, repairing, and modernising weapons and technical equipment, undertaking researches into core technologies, and developing domestic technologies to manufacture technical materials and several types of specialised weapons and equipment step by step, thereby increasing self-reliance in the technical work and decreasing dependence on other countries. To realise that goal, it shall encourage international cooperation in scientific research, technological transfer, personnel training, and experience sharing to gradually narrow the development gap with other countries’ navies.

Fifth, frequently remain vigilant, quickly anticipate situations, readily victoriously handle issues, and step up military diplomacy to prevent the risk of conflict from afar. Against the new, complicated developments in the East Sea, the Navy shall bring into play its materiel to raise its capabilities in monitoring, reconnoitring, grasping, anticipating, and correctly evaluating the situation. It shall increase its force and means to patrol, control, manage, and protect seas and islands, particularly within the key ones. It shall proactively recommend the CMC and the MND to give advice to the Party and the State on strategies to deal with issues at sea to avoid falling into passivity. It shall direct its affiliates to frequently remain vigilant and strictly maintain combat readiness and close combat coordination to resolutely, persistently, cleverly fight to protect seas and islands and preserve a peaceful, stable environment at sea.

The Navy shall promote defence diplomacy with navies and militaries of other countries, particularly our neighbours, traditional friends, and partners to build trust, deal with differences and issues, and maintain seas of peace, friendship, cooperation, development and long-term stability together. At the same time, it shall take advantage of partners’ support to modernise its force and raise the status of the Vietnam People’s Navy in the international arena, thus contributing to preventing the risk of conflict and firmly protecting the Homeland’s seas and islands “from afar.”

Rear Admiral TRAN THANH NGHIEM, Member of the Party Central Committee

Commander of the Navy