The Draft Political Report submitted to the 14^th National Party Congress affirms that culture is an internal resource and driving force for development and is placed on an equal footing with economy, politics, and environment. That reflects a new perspective and approach, with clear goals, anticipated challenges, and solutions to realise the vision of cultural development in the new era.

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New thinking and strategic vision for developing Vietnamese culture

In the Draft Political Report submitted to the 14^th National Party Congress, our Party has made a “breakthrough” in its thinking by affirming that culture is not only the foundation of the spiritual life of society, but also an internal resource and a sustainable driving force for national development. The Draft devotes a separate section (Part V. Robustly, comprehensively developing Vietnamese culture and people), clearly expressing the standpoint of elevating culture to a position on a par with economy, politics, society, and environment.

A notable new feature of the Draft is the integration of the national value system, cultural value system, family value system, and human standards into a coherent framework for building an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity. The Draft states: “building and developing an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity, based on the national value system, cultural value system, family value system, and Vietnamese human standards”. It emphasises the pivotal role of human beings - the creative subject - as the key factor in cultural development, thus placing the promotion of identity and intrinsic values at the very centre of the process.

This new way of thinking reflects the Party’s perception that culture is not only a goal, but also a driving force to “guide the nation’s path” in the era of integration and global competition.

New approaches and points on the development of Vietnamese culture

An analysis of the new aspects and approaches in the Draft Political Report shows that the goal of developing Vietnamese culture is clearly defined and strategically orientated: building an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity so that culture truly becomes the foundation, the internal strength, and a driving force for the country’s rapid, sustainable development. In this regard, the Draft stresses the “robust development of cultural industries and cultural services to better meet the people’s growing cultural needs”.

Compared with the previous Congresses, the Draft supplements the viewpoint that cultural development must be “comprehensive”, in order to not only preserve traditional values, but also foster creativity and adaptability amid intensive and extensive international integration and profound global transformation. It links the goal of cultural development with comprehensive human development and spiritual life improvement, while highlighting the promotion of culture within the economy: developing cultural industries not for profit maximisation, but for upholding and spreading cultural values and behavioural standards throughout society. The ultimate goal is to build and develop an advanced culture imbued with national identity; culture becomes an intrinsic driving force integrated into human development; culture engages in all aspects of social life to serve sustainable development and raise the nation’s prestige and position.

The Draft clearly identifies the centre of cultural development as the Vietnamese people, including all social strata, ethnic groups, and younger generations, with the goal of “comprehensively developing the Vietnamese people in terms of morality, intellect, national consciousness, civic responsibility, creativity, aesthetics, physical fitness, life skills, professional skills”. Culture must be closely connected with social life, becoming both a need and right of enjoyment; every citizen and community must be responsible for creating and preserving cultural values.

The Draft places special emphasis on disadvantaged, ethnic minority, and remote areas, aiming to narrow the gap in cultural enjoyment among regions and social strata. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of younger generations, who receive and create new cultural values and, therefore, should be the central target in research, education, communication, and digital technology, to connect traditional culture with international integration. It could be said that the focus of cultural development is not on a small group, but on all citizens; priority is given to disadvantaged areas, ethnic minorities, and young people; the objective is that by 2030 and towards 2045, cultural access will become more equal and cultural quality will be raised among all people.

According to the Draft, the subject of cultural development includes the people, communities, political - social organisations, cultural institutions, training and research establishments, enterprises operating in the cultural sector, and especially the Party, State, and political system playing the roles of leadership, orientation, and support, and ensuring institutional frameworks for cultural activities, particularly political culture. In the Party’s new perspective, the subject of democracy is emphasised: the people are not merely beneficiaries, but also participants, critics, and creators of culture; they are the central force that accompanies, supervises, and assesses culture.

The object of cultural development consists of cultural institutions, cultural activities, cultural currents, media, artistic works, and cultural movements. Culture is viewed as a system of close interrelations between subject and object. In the Draft, promoting cultural professions, cultural industries, communication, literature, arts, and heritage represents the object that the subject needs to engage with, renew, and revitalise. A new highlight in the Draft is its emphasis on the two-way interaction between subject and object; in this regard, it is not only top-down transmission of the subject, but also the subject’s reception, socialisation, and feedback to create cultural products in line with practice and imbued with identity. This approach helps overcome the traditional notion of a purely “top-down” model in cultural development.

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Core points proposed for cultural development by the Draft

First, building and perfecting a system of values and standards.
The Draft concretises the systems of national values, cultural values, family values, and human standards. The national value system includes the values of “peace, unity, independence, democracy, prosperity, affluence, civilisation, happiness”. The cultural value system consists of “national identity, democracy, humanity, science”. The human standards comprise “patriotism, solidarity, self-reliance, compassion, honesty, responsibility, discipline, creativity”. The family value system includes “progress, civilisation, well-being, happiness”.

Second, preserving and promoting national cultural identity and “cultural heritage values in tandem with heritage economy development”. More specifically, traditional and ethnic cultural elements, customs, beliefs, heritage, languages, and folk arts must be protected, inherited, and promoted in contemporary life. The Draft underlines that culture cannot be entirely copied from the outside; it must embody typical intrinsic values of the nation.

Third, harmoniously combining traditional and modern elements. Culture in the new era must absorb the quintessence of global culture, information technology, creativity, and digitalisation trends, while remaining rooted in national identity and aligned with scientific and humanistic values. According to the Draft, “absorbing the cultural and ethical quintessence of humanity” is to enrich domestic culture.

Fourth, developing cultural industries and cultural economy. The Draft stresses that culture must play an economic role through the development of cultural industries, creativity, cultural products, cultural tourism, and cultural communication. However, the goal of cultural development is not profit; it aims to disseminate values and create a healthy cultural ecosystem.

Fifth, renewing the system of institutions and mechanisms for cultural management, focusing on “developing political culture”. This includes improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cultural management, refining institutions and policies for supporting culture, linking state management with the autonomy of cultural institutions, encouraging creative freedom within the legal framework, and developing cultural networks and infrastructures, media, libraries, relics, and creative spaces.

Sixth, developing human resources for culture. In this regard, emphasis is placed on training cadres in charge of culture work, improving the competence of artists, promoters, and creators, enhancing mass cultural movements, and strengthening the role of artists and intellectuals as the core of cultural creativity. Every citizen is encouraged to act as the subject of cultural creativity.

Seventh, mobilising and attracting resources for cultural development. The State makes investment and provides support; enterprises and individuals are encouraged to invest in culture; mechanisms for funding and preferential treatment are established; public - private partnerships and social resources are combined; adequate funding, land, and facilities for cultural activities are ensured. The Draft stresses that cultural development must go hand in hand with institutional reform and material guarantees for the sake of cultural dissemination.

Eighth, promoting international cultural exchange and expanding cultural integration. In the context of Vietnam’s deep and wide integration into the world, Vietnamese culture must proactively engage in exchange and promote itself abroad, while maintaining its autonomy and confidence. Doing so will enable cultural actors to exchange, acquire, and foster creative cultural development. The Draft considers this as the way for Vietnamese culture to remain proactive and competitive in the global cultural landscape.

Those above-mentioned points indicate that the Draft adopts a comprehensive, inter-sectorial approach integrated with institutions, mechanisms, people, economy, and international integration so that culture will truly become the spiritual foundation and an internal driving force for national development.

The Draft also proposes new approaches to cultural development, notably the combination of top-down and bottom-up methods. The Party and State provide leadership, orientation, policies, and initial support; the people, communities, and individuals create culture, take part in culture, give feedback on culture, and master culture. It is not merely a matter of “issuing policies and then implementing them”; policies will be executed together with mechanisms of receiving and responding to feedback. The Draft emphasises that culture must be closely linked to social life, with the people as the subject of creativity. It calls for socialisation and diversification of cultural activities, encouraging social organisations, individuals, and enterprises to invest in and creating cultural initiatives. It also promotes the combination of public, social, and private investment and the diversification of cultural products. It underlines that cultural development “must be connected with social life” and should “spread cultural values”. It requires the application of technology, digital transformation, and innovation in culture. In the digital era, the Draft proposes the integration of cultural development with digital technology, new media, and digital platforms to spread culture quickly, effectively, proactively. It identifies technological reform and digital communication as the key method for developing culture. It highlights balanced development between central and local levels, and across regions. To “prevent some regions from lagging behind”, it stresses the need to narrow the cultural enjoyment gap between regions, between urban and rural areas, and between densely populated and remote areas. “Balanced” development is fostered to enable all-round cultural development. Another important new point is the requirement to control cultural quality and measure cultural effectiveness. The Draft proposes mechanisms for measuring and evaluating the performance of cultural activities, and for monitoring and supervision to prevent superficiality, wastefulness, and violations of cultural identity. Cultural development must be integrated into other development strategies. Methods for cultural development must be integrated into economic, social, defence, security, education, health, urban, and environmental development strategies. Culture must be consistently connected with all national development pillars. The Draft underlines a synchronised institutional reform in culture, economy, politics, society, and environment. To realise those goals and methods, the Draft identifies necessary conditions to promote cultural development as follows.

1) On institutions and mechanisms, there should be laws, decrees, preferential policies, and investment policies for culture, along with suitable management models to create space for creativity, autonomy, and public - private - social partnerships. The Draft regards “building, improving, and effectively implementing institutional frameworks for cultural development” as a prerequisite.

2) On financial resources and investment, it is necessary to allocate budgets, establish cultural funds, adopt tax incentives, provide land, equipment, and cultural infrastructures, and mobilise private capital. Without adequate resources, culture remains only a slogan. The Draft emphasises “promoting cultural values in the economic sphere… building and developing cultural industries”, which requires strong financial capacity.

3) On cultural infrastructures, there should be a network of cultural institutions across the country (houses of culture, centres of culture, libraries, museums, creative spaces, heritage sites), especially in difficult and ethnic minority areas to allow all citizens to access cultural activities.

4) On cultural human resources, it is essential to develop a pool of culture cadres, artists, and intellectuals who are competent, dedicated, well-trained, and properly rewarded. They are the creators and disseminators of culture. The Draft clearly identifies the development of cultural human resources as a central task.

5) On social consensus and cultural awareness, cultural values must be correctly understood and respected within society. The people must be fully aware of the importance of culture, thereby consciously protecting and promoting it. Consensus represents an important political - social condition for translating cultural strategies into reality. The goal of cultural development must be “closely associated with social life, aimed at improving spiritual well-being and affirming human values in all activities”, which requires a high level of social awareness.

6) On a healthy social environment and creative freedom, cultural development requires an environment where artists, intellectuals, and citizens can create freely within the legal framework; it is also an environment that encourages experimentation, innovation, and accountability. Thus, mechanisms should be established to ensure freedom of creation within the orientation set by the Party and State.

7) On international exchange and cooperation, cultural integration must be selective. For the robust development of Vietnamese culture in the global context, our country must remain open, cooperative, and receptive to creative exchange, but preserve identity and maintain the initiative. To that end, there should be mechanisms for cultural diplomacy and international cooperation towards cultural promotion abroad.

Those conditions encompass policy, social, and human dimensions; all of them support one another to advance the development of Vietnamese culture in the new era.

Some requirements and directions for developing Vietnamese culture

The Draft imposes several requirements to ensure that Vietnamese culture will develop in the right direction as follows.

Combining innovation and inheritance. Vietnamese culture must inherit the country’s fine traditions and quintessence and foster creativity to keep pace with the times. Only “preserving the tradition” or “absorbing foreign culture” is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to “closely combine traditional values with contemporary values” in building a coherent system of values.

Linking culture with the goal of comprehensive human development. Culture is not only about enjoyment, but also about internalising values, fostering ethics, nurturing dignity, and improving creativity. Developing well-rounded human beings is a consistent requirement.

Prioritising disadvantaged and ethnic minority areas. Narrowing the gap in cultural access and enjoyment between regions is a major political - social demand. If certain areas are left behind, social cohesion and consensus will be undermined.

Ensuring sustainability and avoiding formality and short-term movements. Culture must be substantive, not merely a trend or campaign, and must avoid waste of resources. It is necessary to control the quality of culture, correctly assess the impacts, and focus on long-term effectiveness.

Protecting cultural identity and sovereignty. In international integration, foreign culture must not overwhelm or erode national identity. It is vital to selectively absorb external influences and actively counter “cultural invasion” in any forms.

Promoting the role of artists and intellectuals. Those pioneering individuals must be provided with a creative and favourable environment to facilitate their devotion. The Draft emphasises the need to “encourage the pioneering role of intellectuals, artists, entrepreneurs, and persons in charge of culture work”.

Integrating culture into the national governance system. Culture is not a separate sector; it must be included in national policy-making, strategic planning, and governance processes, as well as in mechanisms for inspection and supervision.

Based on the new way of thinking and requirements mentioned above, the Draft Political Report proposes several strategic directions and solutions as follows.

Improving institutions and preferential policies for culture. It is essential to draft and promulgate an amended Law on Culture, introduce more flexible management mechanisms and preferential policies, define minimum budget allocation for culture at all levels, provide funding for cultural projects and creative spaces, offer tax, land, and credit incentives for cultural enterprises and artists, and establish national and local cultural funds as well as creative culture funds.

Developing a system of cultural indicators, evaluation, and supervision. It is necessary to build a set of indices to assess the effectiveness of cultural activities, including cultural access, enjoyment, products, and quality, establish cultural evaluation and supervision agencies within the state management system, and conduct regular reviews and reports on cultural strategies at localities.

Investing in synchronised cultural infrastructures. It is vital to expand networks of houses of culture, culture - sport centres, libraries, and creative hubs in rural and ethnic minority areas, provide technology, Internet access, and digital tools for disadvantaged regions to access digital culture, and preserve and restore tangible and intangible cultural heritage sites.

Training and fostering artists and persons in charge of culture work. Emphasis should be placed on providing multidisciplinary, advanced training for culture managers, researchers, and artists, establishing preferential treatment policies to retain culture talents and prevent “brain drain”, and formulating international cultural scholarship and exchange programs to enhance creativity.

Encouraging cultural creativity at grass-roots level and within mass movements. Consideration should be given to facilitating local cultural competitions, initiatives, and activities, connecting community cultural models not only in big cities, but also in each commune and village, and creating “local creative culture funds” to foster cultural innovation right at grass-roots level.

Applying digital technology and modern communication. Great value should be attached to developing digital cultural platforms, such as digital libraries, electronic copyright repositories, virtual museums, and cultural mobile applications, building multimedia communication channels to bring culture to people nationwide, assisting enterprises in creating music, movies, games, and multimedia arts, and ensuring copyright protection and content quality.

Strengthening international cultural exchange and cooperation. Due regard should be paid to promoting cultural diplomacy, signing cooperation agreements, expanding international art exchanges, executing programs to promote Vietnamese culture abroad through cultural institutes, embassies, and international events, learning from other countries’ cultural management experiences, selectively absorbing best practices, and collaborating on transnational cultural production.

Enhancing the leadership and direction of the Party and political system in cultural development. It is vital to incorporate culture into resolutions and key programs of the Party and State, “continue renewing the Party’s leadership over and the State’s management of culture”, and organise regular cultural forums to gather public feedback.

Promoting cultural movements within the armed forces and defence sector. Importance should be attached to fostering the Military’s traditions, identity, combat spirit, and close tie with the people, organising military art, creative writing, and cultural communication programs to cement civil - military unity.

Piloting and multiplying cultural models. It is necessary to launch pilot cultural models in provinces and communes to test new approaches, mechanisms, and cultural products, and then draw lessons and multiply successful models across the country.

The Draft Political Report represents an important step forward in our Party’s awareness and thinking of culture. From viewing culture as the “spiritual foundation” only, the Party has now recognised it as an “internal resource and driving force for development”, integrating values, subject, object, human factors, institutions, technology, and identity into a unified strategy.

The Draft’s new approaches and points are clear. The Party defines the goal of developing an advanced culture imbued with national identity, giving priority to disadvantaged regions, regarding the people and political system as the key actors, focusing on values, cultural industries, institutions, humans, combination of top-down and bottom-up methods, and application of digital technology, ensuring synchronicity between local and central levels as practical steps towards the vision of culture in the new era. The viewpoints and orientations presented in the Draft Political Report will enable Vietnamese culture to truly become an internal driving force and contribute to building a prosperous, civilised, and happy nation in the new era.

Maj. Gen., Associate Prof., People’s Teacher NGUYEN BA DUONG, PhD

Member of the Central Theoretical Council