In the trend of globalization, alongside opportunities, countries have to face a lot of new risks including the risk posed by non-traditional security. As for Vietnam’s national defence, studying this issue has important and urgent significance.

General Phung Quang Thanh speaking to media at the 9th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (photo: vietnam+)

Up to now, at global level, the conception of non-traditional security issues has had positive changes but not in a complete unity. However, basically, there are similarities, such as: non-traditional security is not military security, but a combined security comprising comprehensive threats to human beings and society in terms of politics, economics, culture, society, defence, security, and environment; notably the issues on environmental disasters, terrorism, trans-national crime, diseases, drug, and transformation and alignment of countries. Non-traditional security can occur at various levels, deeply affecting a country’s defence, once its impacts are out of control and management, they become risks to national defence. Those risks (in a relationship with non-traditional security) could be caused by non-traditional security in direct way; or non-tradition security could indirectly impact and prompt situations and challenges to become risks to national defence. Therefore, the forming of risks to national defence, caused by non-traditional security’s impact, should be considered in various aspects and contents; initially, it can be generalized into 3 main risks as follows:

Firstly, the risk of reducing the country’s national defence strength. Vietnam’s national defence strength is the country’s combined strength of national great solidarity, and that of close-knit bond among the whole country’s potential, forces, and  defence posture. Thus, impacts weakening capabilities to mobilize and promote national potentials have had a huge effect on the country’s defence power. As for political and spiritual potential, they create a panic undermining the people’s will, resolve, and faith in the regime; at the same time, they could intensify social differences, especially among people from walks of life. As for economic potential, non-traditional security’s impacts would hold back, even harm economic development, make it difficult to combine economics and defence and expand international cooperation in economics; considerably weakening the capabilities to reserve and mobilize the economy’s material resources for national defence tasks and investing in national defence in general and the army modernization in particular. In addition, non-tradition security, especially in terms of calamities and natural disasters, also considerably affects the application of science and technology achievements to defence fields, the quality of building force and defence posture as well as defensive area, defence facilities.

Moreover, climate change’s impacts, such as CO2 causing greenhouse effect; factory waste, mining,  dams construction, forest fires, deforestation, radioactive leak, oil spillovers, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, floods, volcanoes, and so on have a direct, huge impact on every aspect of social life, causing the death to millions of people with severe consequences that take years and a huge amount of money to recover.

Secondly, they destabilize the country. The supreme objective of Vietnam national defence is to maintain peace, sustainability to build and develop the country, to successfully deal with situations in national defence. Reality has showed us that there are various reasons for national destabilization; among which the one from non-traditional security’s impacts is important and unpredictable. Consequences caused by non-traditional security can destabilize the country in various fields such as politics, economics, culture, society, defence and security, foreign relations, and so on. Climate change, diseases, ethnic and religious conflicts, terrorism, drug criminals  directly slow down economic development while increase poverty. Accordingly, they change social structure, intensify internal contradiction, cause discontentment, opposition among the people, possibly lead to acute social crisis. Also, information security’s impacts manifested in “information warfare” and “cyber warfare” can destabilize the country.

Thirdly, a risk of causing conflicts and wars. In general, the risk of leading to conflicts and wars is caused by various reasons, both subjective and objective, internal and external; in which there are reasons caused by non-traditional security’s impacts, especially in terms of terrorism, trans-national crime, drug trafficking, national and ethic conflicts, natural resources exploitation. Therefore, preventing the risk of leading to conflicts and wars, for many countries, in fact, is to prevent and respond to non-traditional security’s challenges, which are considered among the most fundamental objectives of each country’s defence and security.

Lieutenant General, Assoc Prof, PhD. Tran Thai Binh

Colonel MA. Vu Hong Quan