As a strategic task, the defence of the Socialist Vietnam Fatherland is always in parallel with the construction of socialism. Reviewing the 10-year implementation of the Resolution of the 8^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th tenure), we could be fully aware of breakthrough developments in our Party’s theoretical thinking and practical direction. 

Perceptual and practical breakthroughs in implementing the Fatherland Protection Strategy

Regarding perceptual breakthroughs

First of all, our Party’s perception of the Fatherland protection has been renewed and increasingly perfected. According to the Resolution of the 8^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (11^th tenure), defending the Fatherland is to safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, to protect the Party, the State, the people, and the country’s renewal, industrialisation, modernisation cause and culture, to maintain political stability and a peaceful environment for national construction and development under socialist orientation.

The 12^th National Party Congress developed the perception, considering the Fatherland protection as “proactively fighting to foil all plots and artifices of hostile forces, preventing and combating wrong information and arguments, pushing back crime and social evils, readily responding to traditional and non-traditional security threats, maintaining information safety and cyber security; there should be strategies to prevent risks of war and conflict from afar, proactively detect and eliminate disadvantageous factors, particularly from the inside”. At its 13^th National Party Congress, our Party was more fully and deeply aware that defending the Fatherland means “safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, protecting the Party, the State, the people, the socialist regime, and the country’s culture and interests,... opportunely, effectively responding to non-traditional security threats, especially natural disasters and epidemics”.

Our Party also developed its perception of strengthening power for the Fatherland protection. That is the strength of the national great unity block, the synergy of the country in political, ideological, economic, social, defence, security, diplomatic terms, the power of the entire political system under the Party’s leadership and the State’s management, with the armed forces playing a core role, as well as the combination and exploitation of domestic and international resources. In order to increase the strength of the armed forces for the Fatherland protection, our Party advocates “basically making the Military and the Public Security adept, compact, strong by 2025 as a firm prerequisite for making the People’s Army and the People’s Public Security revolutionary, regular, highly-skilled, modern, and strong in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel”.

Additionally, specific tasks for the Fatherland protection have been assigned to the entire Party and people, all sectors, the armed forces, localities, and units. Our Party has been fully aware of contents and methods of the Fatherland protection in the new situation. According to our Party, it is necessary to build strong forces capable of combating hostile forces in all situations, namely violation of territorial sovereignty, seas, islands, and border, riots, demonstrations, political and armed unrest, subversion, and secession. Besides, it is important to combat wrong arguments against our Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, prevent and fight against hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” and distortions.

Our Party has adopted breakthrough concept of partners of cooperation and objects of struggle (hereinafter referred to as partners and objects). With a more dialectical vision, our Party has shifted its thinking from friends and enemies to partners and opponents on the basis of national interests. It has been fully aware of the interweaving and transformation of partners and adversarys, while considering partnerships as the foundation for establishing international relations. Our Party pointed out that in order to bring into play advantages and reduce challenges, there should be a new, uniform perspective on partners and adversaries. Those who respect our independence and sovereignty and maintain friendly, equally cooperative, and mutually beneficial relations with Viet Nam are our partners. Any hostile force that has plots and actions against our goals in the Fatherland construction and protection is our object of struggle.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc chairs a conference on Fatherland protection

With reference to reality

In fact, the cause of defending the Socialist Vietnam Fatherland nowadays is to safeguard the Socialist Fatherland in the period of transition towards socialism and to protect socialism which is in the construction and perfection process with both rather firm foundations and weaknesses. In the past years, we have obtained impressive achievements in the Fatherland protection as follows.

Under the Party’s leadership and the State’s management, our entire Party, Military, and people have overcome a myriad of difficulties and challenges to maintain macro-economic stability, safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, strengthen the Party’s leadership role, protect our socialist regime, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the political system, ensure political security and social order and safety, thwart all plots and artifices of hostile forces for the sake of the country’s peace, stability, and development. The country’s synergy has been increased, our defence and security potential has been strengthened, and the postures of all-people national defence and people’s security have been increasingly cemented. We have established a favourable international environment, our diplomatic ties have been promoted, and our international integration has been both widely and deeply developed. Inflation has been curbed, while economic size has been increased. Due regard has been paid to maintaining social security and improving the people’s life.

Great value has been attached to ideological and theoretical work to make contributions to settling difficulties and shortcomings stemming from reality, resolutely fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints, maintaining the Party’s ideological foundation, safeguarding and developing Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, and national cultural identity, and protecting the Fatherland, the people, the State, and the socialist regime.

The armed forces’ synergy and combat capacity have been increased for defence and security consolidation and the Fatherland protection in the new situation. The armed forces have improved their fighting morale and combat readiness capacity. Services and arms within the Military and key forces of the Public Security have been strengthened. Weapons and equipment have been upgraded. Several services and arms of the Military and a number of elite forces of the Public Security have been developed towards modernity. Due regard has been paid to considerably improving material and mental life of staff members of the armed forces. The People’s Army and the Public Security have unceasingly maintained and brought into play revolutionary virtues, guaranteed internal unity, forged a close-knit bond with the people, upheld patriotism and noble internationalism, and overcome all difficulties to successfully fulfil their assigned tasks.

Issues and several measures for the Fatherland protection in the new situation

In the past 10 years, our country has earned tremendous achievements in many fields; the situation is basically stable, but there may be potential risks of instability. Territorial disputes over seas and islands, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle has complex developments. Meanwhile, the situation on global and regional scales, particularly at the East Sea is witnessing extremely complex, rapid, unpredictable changes. Things mentioned above enable us to be fully aware of the following issues. (1) The Fatherland protection has been clearly, correctly stipulated in the Party’s Political Platform, documents, and resolutions, but it is really hard to deal with real-life situations. (2) The Fatherland protection must be in parallel with socio-economic development. (3) Dealing with hi-tech wars is now becoming a thorny issue. (4) Safeguarding national sovereignty over seas and islands plays a role of paramount importance in the Fatherland construction, development, and protection.

For those reasons, it is vital to keep perfecting orientations and put forward a number of measures for the Fatherland protection in the new situation as follows.

First, strengthening the Party’s leadership, resolutely, persistently implementing the Party’s guidelines, viewpoints, and new thinking on the Fatherland protection as the lodestar for completing Fatherland protection orientations in the new situation. This measure acts as a determinant to successfully realising orientations for Fatherland protection. When implementing the Fatherland Protection Strategy, with its correct evaluations of the situation on global, regional, and domestic scales and its scientific, acute thinking, our Party has creatively formulated guidelines on the Fatherland construction and protection in accordance with the country’s practical conditions. Bringing into play the great national unity strength, combining national power with international strength, promoting internal resources, exploiting external resources, and proactively fighting to foil all plots and artifices of hostile forces, our Party has succeeded in creating great synergy to firmly protect national independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity, maintain a peaceful environment, and ensure security and social order and safety for national construction and development. The unsuccessful performance of defence and security tasks results from the incomprehensive grasp or bad implementation of orientations for the Fatherland protection developed by our Party, and vice versa.

Second, supplementing some  aspects of the motto for the Fatherland protection. The guiding motto for performing the defence and security, Fatherland protection tasks is very important and provides a foundation for accurately identifying goals and methods of protecting national inviolability, national interests, political security, and social order and safety. Essential contents that should be supplemented includes grasping the situation and synchronously dealing with issues raised by reality, correctly anticipating the situation on global, regional, domestic scales and in each specific area, clearly understanding defence and security challenges and possible situations, and opportunely, flexibly designing orientations to effectively deal with  all situations and avoid falling into strategic passivity. The optimum goal of the Fatherland protection is to prevent, push back, and eliminate risks of conflict and successfully respond to all situations.

Third, in addition to ensuring political stability, fostering economic, cultural, social development, and strengthening defence, security, diplomacy, it is necessary to enhance ideological work within the entire Party and society. Due attention should be paid to well conducting the work of propagation and education to raise all cadres, party members, and citizens’ awareness of the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies on defence and security and to unmask hostile forces’ plots and artifices. It is important to improve knowledge of defence and security of cadres and soldiers of the armed forces and all citizens as well. Besides, it is essential to select and diversify contents and forms of law propagation, education, and dissemination in accordance with each area. Consideration should be given to remaining proactive in the ideological struggle to thwart hostile forces’ sabotage schemes and exploitation of issues relating to religion and ethnicity.

Fourth, supplementing orientations on fighting methods to defend the Fatherland and readily, opportunely respond to new-style and hi-tech wars. It is necessary to frequently monitor, research, and grasp the development of hi-tech and new-style wars, as well as synchronously settle strategic issues, including viewpoints, principles, methods, contents, and forms of warfare. Emphasis should be placed on building and developing forces, weapons, equipment, defence  and security industry straight to modernity, with hi-tech application, and manufacturing modern weapons and equipment in Viet Nam to deal with possible situations.

In the new condition, it is necessary to assert that people’s war for the Fatherland protection is still an effective method to deal with new-style and hi-tech wars; modern weapons and equipment are important, but human being  are the determinants. Hence, great weight should be added to making cadres and soldiers of the armed forces politically strong and capable of exploiting and mastering science, technology, and modern materiel. Importance should be attached to modernising human resources of the armed forces, developing Viet Nam’s military art on the basis of scientific and technological advances, and working towards effective measures against hi-tech and new-style wars.

Fifth, more clearly identifying partners and adversaries. To that end, principles must be upheld. Due attention should be paid to adhering to the Party’s leadership, the Constitution, and the State’s laws for national interests, increasing vigilance, and ensuring national secrets. Adversaries should not be identified by name; they should be described via their actions. Moreover, it is important to both objectively, comprehensively identify external objects in each situation and point out the danger of internal objects . Significance should be attached to remaining vigilance, opportunely detecting objects’ plots and actions, maintaining both cooperation and struggle, taking advantage of consensus, alleviating disagreement, making more friends and less enemies, avoiding being isolated, preventing and destroying any alliance with intent to invade our country.

It is necessary to be fully aware that in the strategic rivalry among  major powers, if a certain country relies on a major power, they will become a strategic rival of others. Therefore, on the one hand, we must remain steadfastness in the “Four No’s” Policy, make more friends and less enemies, harmoniously maintain our relations with major powers, establish and strengthen diplomatic ties with all countries, particularly our strategic partners, both widely and deeply integrate into the world, increase the interweaving of benefits with many countries, achieve international support, prevent and successfully respond to risks of invasion. On the other hand, we must promote cooperation with a number of comprehensive strategic partners, while designing and realising commitments of special importance relating to the Fatherland protection.

Sixth, supplementing orientations on defending national sovereignty over seas and islands. First of all, it is essential to establish a principle according to which the defence of seas and islands must be placed under the absolute, direct leadership of the Party, particularly the Politburo and the Secretariat and under the State’s uniform management; there should be the involvement of the entire people, with the armed forces playing a core role in this task. To safeguard national sovereignty over seas and islands, it is important to enhance propagation and education to raise awareness and responsibility of the whole Party, Military, people, and political system towards this task. Due regard should be paid to making the Navy, the Air Defence – Air Force Service, the Coast Guard, and the Fisheries Surveillance regular, highly-skilled, modern, providing them with state-of-the-art materiel, and improving their synergy and combat power to firmly protect the country’s airspace, seas, and islands. Great value should be attached to building firm postures of all-people national defence and people’s security, stepping up the building of the coastal militia and self-defence force, and consolidating defensive zones on islands and in the mainland. Professional qualifications and research capacity of the seas and islands protection forces should be improved to proactively give advice on dealing with situations. Last but not least, international cooperation and defence and security diplomacy should be enhanced to contribute to firmly protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Prof. VU VAN HIEN, Ph.D.