Ha Giang province shares a 287-km-long border with China in the area of 7 districts where 19 ethnic groups are living and the ethnic minorities make up 62% of the population. These districts are confronted with many difficulties. The people’s intellectual levels are not equal. Various depraved customs still exist. Socio-economic development is slow. Meanwhile, crimes, social evils, illegal immigration, and human trafficking across the border witness complex developments and cause difficulties in the border management and defence.

The PBG and the militia force conduct a joint patrol in the border area

Grasping and executing higher echelons’ resolutions and directives, over the years, the Party Committee and Command of the Provincial Border Guard (PBG) have focused their leadership and direction on synchronously, comprehensively taking measures for the border defence work. A focus has been placed on grasping the border situation, maintaining combat readiness, correctly anticipating the situation on both sides of the border, and enhancing the quality of giving advice to the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee as well as the Border Guard Force’s Party Committee and High Command on measures for managing and protecting the national border sovereignty and security. Executing the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 33-NQ/TW on the Strategy for the national border protection, the PBG has advised the Provincial Party Committee on developing the Action Program 54-Ctr/TU, dated May 31^st 2019, for the Resolution 33-NQ/TW. It has also counselled the Provincial People’s Committee to formulate the Plan 248/KH-UBND, dated September 27^th 2019, on realising this Program. At the same time, it has given advice on completing the documents on border management and defence, while proposing strategies for settling issues on border management and defence, immigration management and control, border defence diplomacy, and people-to-people exchange activities in accordance with the situation, thereby providing the legal basis for improving the task performance.

To fulfil its task, the PBG has stepped up the work of propagation and education to raise all cadres, party members, and people’s responsibility for border management and defence, particularly those in the border communes. The province’s border area is inhibited mainly by ethnic minorities with low literacy and limited knowledge of law. These people have deep-rooted socio-economic relations and ties of kinship with Chinese people along the border; therefore, their awareness of our national border and territory sovereignty is insufficient. Grasping the particularities of the area, the PBG has given advice to local party committees and authorities and cooperated with provincial departments and sectors in strictly executing the Project on “enhancing legal dissemination and education for cadres and locals in the border area,” further propagating 3 legal documents on land border signed by Vietnam and China, unmasking the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, and identifying violations of territorial sovereignty, national benefit and social order and safety. In the process, the PBG has flexibly adopted methods of propagation, included border-related legal documents in the program of defence-security education and the training courses for the militia and self-defence force and the reserve force, promoted the role of communicators and mass mobilisation teams within border guard posts and stations, and took advantage of mass media. Moreover, the PBG has actively employed visual aids, delivered leaflets during the people’s markets, and organised knowledge contests relating to the border and the border guard force. Since 2014, the PBG has organised over 9,420 sessions of legal propagation and dissemination for 150,000 people. Doing so has enabled it to raise the entire political system and people’s awareness and responsibility for managing and defending national border and border markers as well as for maintaining security and order in the border area.

The PBG cooperates with Chinese border guard force in delivering leaflets to locals from both sides of the border

In order to provide a solid foundation for well performing the border defence work and firmly protecting the national border sovereignty and security, the PBG has promoted its core role in building the all-people border defence posture associated with the all-people national defence and people’s security postures in the border area. The PBG’s Party Committee and Command have directed units to actively take part in improving the grass-roots level political system’s capability and bringing into play the synergy of the organisations, forces, and people to carry out the border defence work. Adhering to the leadership and direction by the Border Guard Force’s Party Committee and High Command as well as by the Provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, the PBG has developed and stringently executed the Regulations on cooperation between the PBG’s Party Committee and 7 border districts’ party committees and between border communes’ party committees and border guard posts’ party committees, while maintaining the regulations and programs for coordination between local sectors and the PBG at each level. Since 2013, the PBG has kept dispatching 34 cadres to hold the position of deputy party secretary in 34 border communes, 145 party members to join party meetings in 126 village-level party cells, and 360 cadres to frequently help 1,715 households in the border area. Doing so has contributed to enhancing the grass-roots level party organisations, cadres, and party members’ leadership and combativeness, improving the authorities’ management and operation capacity, and promoting the role of the Fatherland Front and politico-social organisations in the border villages.

The PBG’s Command has advised the province on supplementing and adjusting the plans for residential areas and gradually forming clusters of residential areas and villages in the border area under the Government’s Program No.120. Priority has been given to executing the programs for border belt forest plantation, management, and protection, infrastructure construction, public health, and border management and protection constructions in line with the province’s military posture. The PBG has proactively cooperated with local departments and sectors in well implementing the policies on ethnicity and religion and advising locals on developing crop and animal husbandry and tourism, thereby cementing the national great unity block, making the postures of “people’s hearts and minds” and all-people border defence strong.

Besides, the PBG has counselled border localities to establish and maintain the steering boards for the movement of “all people’s participation in defending the national territorial sovereignty and border security in the new situation” at all levels under the Prime Minister’s Directive 01/CT-TTg, dated January 9^th 2015. It has proposed measures for building the force in charge of protecting the all-people border extensively, encouraged the people to join the movement of border and border marker self-management, assigned border sections and markers to households, individuals, and commune-level authorities, built and multiplied models of border management and defence, thereby contributing to stepping up the movement of sovereignty and security protection and crime prevention and control in the border area. At present, 856 individuals and 107 collectives across the province have joined the movement of border and border marker self-management while there are 242 groups of security with the participation of over 1,580 people. Thus, all incidents in the border area have been opportunely detected and reported to the border posts and local authorities by the people.

With its function and assigned task, the PBG has comprehensively taken measures for the border defence work, resolutely prevented and fought against crime, maintained social order and safety, and firmly protected the territorial sovereignty and border security. To do so, the PBG has strictly maintained the order and regulations for combat readiness, frequently supplemented and adjusted the system of combat documents, proactively developed and executed the working plans, and cooperated with local party committees and authorities as well as the military and public security forces in grasping the situation and conducting joint patrols in the border area. Importance has been attached to performing the border reconnaissance work and grasping the situation on both sides of the border, particularly the hostile forces’ sabotage activities and crimes of all types to proactively, flexibly, and completely deal with violations of national border sovereignty and security. At the same time, the PBG has advised the province on formulating and implementing the Project to rearrange border control posts in the period of 2018-2021 as the basis for the border management and protection. By adopting the measures synchronously, the PBG has effectively executed many anti-crime operations and firmly maintained the national territorial sovereignty, political security, and social order and safety in the border area.

To deal with the issues on the border sovereignty and security, the PBG has resolutely, persistently cooperated with Chinese forces in handling violations on the border between our country and China under the three legal documents and the Party’s diplomatic guidelines. It has also proactively worked with Chinese competent forces to prevent and combat trans-national and cross-border crimes of all types. Additionally, it has enhanced the work of border defence diplomacy, actively participated in exchange programs, shared information via meetings, dialogues, and “hot line”, and taken part in exercises on cross-border crime prevention and control, search and rescue, and natural disaster and fire mitigation in order to foster mutual understanding and friendship and improve the quality of coordination in border management and defence. Thanks to the work of border defence diplomacy, the PBG and Chinese competent forces have settled differences under the regulations on border.

Thoroughly grasping the 12^th Politburo’s Resolution 33 and bringing into play its achievements and experiences, the PBG of Ha Giang will continue making its border guard offices, posts, and stations comprehensively strong and capable of playing the core role in managing and defending the national border sovereignty and security and building a border of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation, and development so as to contribute to protecting the Homeland from afar.

Sr. Col. Vang Dinh Chien, Commander of the PBG