Can Tho City is an economic hub, holding a position of strategic importance in terms of defence and security to the Mekong Delta. Fully aware of the City’s position, over the years, the municipal armed forces of Can Tho, particularly the Municipal Military Party Committee (MMPC) and the Municipal Military Command (MMC) have grasped the Party’s military and defence viewpoints and guidelines, promoting revolutionary tradition, proactively giving advice to the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Council, and the Municipal People’s Committee, directly commanding, directing, and guiding localities, offices, and units to actively perform military and defence tasks, thus obtaining significant results. Notably, state management of national defence has been enhanced; all-people national defence potential and posture, particularly “posture of people’s hearts and minds” have been consolidated; the building and operation of defensive zones have been increasingly effective; the local armed forces have been made adept, compact, strong; political security and social order and safety have been maintained as the basis for the City’s rapid, sustainable development.

Lt. Gen. Ho Van Thai, Political Commissar of Military Region 9 encourages forces during the City’s defensive zone exercise of 2023

In the process of performing their tasks, the municipal armed forces have drawn several lessons which could be seen as measures to be applied in adopting two-tier local government model nowadays.

Aligning socio-economic development with the strengthening of defence and security. This is a strategic matter of special importance in the long term and short term. Thus, the MMPC and the MMC have given advice to the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal People’s Committee on grasping and realising decrees, conclusions, and decisions on aligning socio-economic development with the strengthening of defence and security. Emphasis has been placed on integrating defence posture planning into the City’s planning in the period of 2021 - 2030, with a vision towards 2050, incorporating defensive zone military posture planning into the Plan on “defence consolidation in the period of 2015 - 2020, with orientation towards 2030”, and giving advice on planning and constructing defence works, such as Military - Civilian Hospitals, MMC Headquarters, and regional defence command headquarters after the re-organisation of local military agencies. Before merging with Soc Trang and Hau Giang provinces, the City allocated over 8,000 square metres of land for national defence, integrating over 8,000 hectares of land into the plan on socio-economic development associated with defence and security consolidation. The MMC closely appraised dozens of dual-purpose socio-economic infrastructure projects. By early 2025, the City completed 6 national highways, including Lo Te - Rach Soi expressway, Can Tho and Vam Cong bridges over Hau river to facilitate its connection with Ho Chi Minh City and other regional provinces; it also completed two national inland waterway routes, 3 seaports capable of accommodating 20,000-ton ships, upgrading Can Tho International Airport with a capacity of 3 million passengers per year, 6 industrial parks, 24 general and specialised hospitals and over 90 medical facilities. After the merger, those figures have now increased significantly to meet the requirements of defence and security consolidation in the new conditions. Besides, all-level military agencies have given advice to local party committees and authorities on establishing and maintaining defensive zone organisations, particularly Supply Councils, designing sufficient defence mobilisation documents, with a focus on the plan for defence needs in the first three years of a war, putting nearly 300 industrial enterprises into management and registration for defence mobilisation, thus laying a legal foundation for mobilising all resources in the event.

Attaching importance to defence and security education for target individuals. As an important part of military and defence work, defence and security education helps raise awareness and a sense of responsibility among cadres, party members, and all people towards Fatherland protection, build a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, and create a favourable condition for building all-people national defence and defensive zones. Hence, the MMC has always attached significance to renewing the content, programs, and methods of defence and security education in accordance with each group of learners. Great value has been attached to including new points of the Party’s lines and the State’s laws and policies on defence, security, ethnicity, and religion in education programs. The MMC has given advice to the Municipal Defence and Security Education Council on reviewing and classifying target groups, sending cadres of the 2^nd group to training courses held by the Military Region, and organising training courses right in the City. The City has focused on providing defence and security education for the 3^rd and 4^th groups. As the City has many religions with hundreds of places of worship and hundreds of thousands of followers, it has added great weight to defence and security education for religious dignitaries and followers. The MMC has given advice to the City and cooperated with the Municipal Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs in consulting with church councils, the Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism, and heads of pagodas about forms and duration of defence and security education courses in accordance with the particularities of each religion. The MMC has frequently provided information and documents and encouraged religious dignitaries to conduct propagation work aimed at cementing followers’ faith in the Party’s leadership, enabling followers to grasp the State’s laws and policies, rendering followers fully aware of hostile forces’ plots and artifices of undermining national great unity, and heightening a sense of responsibility to their hometown and country among followers.

The City has frequently directed educational institutions to strictly maintain the content and programs of defence and security education and actively renew methods and forms of defence and security education for students. As a result, nearly 100% of students have got pass in the subject of defence and security education (over 85% of them have achieved merit or distinction). Notably, in 2022, the City successfully organised the 3^rd defence and security education contest for high schools across the country, producing practical effectiveness, creating strong positive effects among schools. The MMC has coordinated with the Municipal Commission for Information, Education, and Mass Mobilisation and Can Tho’s Newspaper, Radio, and Television to maintain special programs, such as “All-people national defence” and “For the Fatherland’s security”. To further improve the efficiency of this important work, the City has attached great value to building a corps of rapporteurs and communicators, integrating propagation into residential areas’ meetings, political - social organisations’ operations, and cultural and social activities. Doing so has helped render people from all walks of life fully aware of the two strategic tasks of Fatherland construction and protection in the new situation, heighten the people’s vigilance against all plots and artifices of hostile forces, encourage the people’s faith and sense of responsibility for building all-people national defence, maintain political security, and ensure social order and safety for socio-economic development.

Members of the Militia and Self-Defence Force take part in a defensive zone exercise

The local armed forces are both the main actor in carrying out military and defence work and an important component of this work. Thus, the MMC has always grasped the Party’s military and defence lines and higher echelons’ resolutions and directives to give advice to the Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Committee, and all-level party committees and authorities on building politically, ideologically, and organisationally strong local armed forces with a high level of combat power. The City has concentrated its leadership and direction on making force adjustments and building an “adept, compact, strong” standing force in accordance with their functions and tasks. The City has built a strong, extensive militia and self-defence force and a high-quality, powerful reserve force. In the process, the City has attached special importance to enhancing the Party’s leadership over the armed forces and promoting political and ideological education and internal political protection work to render cadres and soldiers fully aware of partners and opponents, improve troops’ political steadfastness, and turn the armed forces into reliable, loyal political and fighting forces of the Municipal Party Organisation, Authority, and people. Up to now, members of the militia and self-defence force have accounted for 1.17% of City’s population; all commune-level military party cells have established their execute committees; all communes and wards have built standing militia squads. The reserve force has been registered, managed, and organised properly; 15% of members of this force have been party members. Besides, the armed forces have always grasped situational developments, strictly maintaining combat readiness regulations, regularly reviewing, adjusting, and supplementing combat projects and plans for fire, explosion, and natural disaster mitigation, and search and rescue, intensifying training and exercises to improve their combat readiness capacity. Coordination between the Military and the Public Security under the Government’s Decree 03/2019/NĐ-CP, dated 5 September 2019, has been maintained to prevent and successfully deal with defence and security situations right at grass-roots level.

A part from those above-mentioned measures, the municipal armed forces have promoted their function as an “army ready for work”, actively carrying out mass mobilisation, taking part in building strong political bases, conducting “Paying debt of gratitude” activities, helping the people with hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and natural disaster response. In 2025, the municipal armed forces have collaborated with sectors and organisations in the Program to eradicate temporary and dilapidated houses. Up to now, they have constructed and repaired 531 houses. Doing so has contributed to cementing the people’s faith in the Party and State, maintaining the close-knit bond between the Military and the people, building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”, well carrying out the work of selecting and conscripting citizens into the Military, ensuring logistics and technical support for missions, successfully fulfilling all military and defence tasks, and meeting the requirements of Fatherland construction and protection.

Sr. Col. HUYNH VAN HUNG

Member of the Municipal Party Committee Standing Board

Commander of the MMC