Vietnam possesses a coastline stretching over 3,260 kilometres and a maritime area exceeding one million square kilometres, together with more than 3,000 islands of various sizes. Situated along one of the world’s busiest international maritime routes connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Vietnam holds a position of particularly important geopolitical and economic significance.

As the East Sea has witnessed growing strategic competition among major powers and faced potential risks of instability, the task of managing and protecting our national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction at sea remains challenging and complex. This reality requires the mobilisation of national synergy to effectively protect our country’s sea and island sovereignty. In recent years, under the leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission and Ministry of National Defence (MND), relevant agencies and units and coastal localities have actively implemented Phase 1 of the Project on “building permanent militia flotillas (PMF) to safeguard sea and island sovereignty in the new situation” and achieved important initial results. However, as PMFs constitute a newly-established force, provincial-level Party committees and authorities and military units still have limited experience in the process of leadership, direction, and management. Organisational structure, equipment, training methods, and operational models also exhibit inconsistencies across this force, thus affecting its task performance. Against this backdrop, proposing solutions to enhance the effectiveness of PMFs in protecting our sea and island sovereignty in the new situation is an urgent issue.

An Giang Provincial Military Command encourages KG-96025-TS vessel after its anti-IUU duty in the Southwestern sea (photo: qdnd.vn)

First, strengthening the leadership and direction of coastal local Party committees and authorities and provincial-level military commands regarding the building and operation of PMFs. This is a matter of principle to ensure the Party’s absolute, direct, and comprehensive leadership over the armed forces, including PMFs. In practice, unified leadership from local Party committees and authorities will help encourage the participation and cooperation of various departments, sectors, and mass organisations, thereby creating synergy to build comprehensively strong, efficient PMFs, tailored to the specific conditions of each locality. Moreover, PMFs serve as the on-the-spot core force that is always ready to cooperate with other forces in handling defence and security situations. Therefore, the reinforced leadership and direction will enable this force to maintain a high level of combat readiness and successfully fulfil all assigned tasks under any circumstance. At the same time, provincial-level military commands - acting as advisory, commanding, and directional agencies for local defence and military work - are accountable to Party committees, authorities, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army for the building and operation of PMFs. Thus, military Party committees and commands of coastal provinces should focus on enhancing the leadership capacity and combativeness of PMF Party cells. Clear directives and assignments should be established at every level, accompanied with enhanced inspection, supervision, review, and evaluation to avoid overlapping or neglected tasks. Additionally, the roles of various agencies, departments, mass organisations, and the people should be promoted in coordinated operations to create synergy and favourable conditions for PMFs to engage in sea and island sovereignty protection.

In the leadership and direction process, it is essential to provide support and preferential policies for members of PMFs and their families, especially policies aimed at creating employment opportunities and increasing household incomes. These measures are important to ensure that members of PMFs will truly feel secure when performing their tasks. Based on legal provisions and higher-echelon guidance regarding militia and self-defence work, as well as realities of defence, security, and maritime situation, local military agencies should give sound advice to local Party committees and authorities on the organisation and management of PMFs participating in safeguarding sea and island sovereignty.

Second, building organisationally strong PMFs. To this end, coastal provinces should continue effectively implementing the road map set out in the aforementioned Project. Provincial-level military commands should proactively advise local Party committees and authorities to effectively conduct propagation work and carefully select qualified members for PMFs. This involves verifying standards and selecting individuals who meet political, ethical, cultural, social, legal, and maritime experience criteria for training in key positions, such as PMF command members, captains, chief engineers, helmsmen, and communications operators in accordance with the annual training plans established by the Militia and Self-Defence Department. The organisational structures of both PMFs and vessels must strictly comply with regulations and ensure that each PMF possesses the required number of vessels, equipment, and support tools. Personnel strength should reach 100% of the prescribed structure (with at least 30% being Party members and 30-40% having intermediate, college, or university degrees). In addition, due attention should be paid to receiving officers and professional servicemen from the Navy to reinforce PMFs. Alongside this, proposals should be submitted to Military Region Commands for advising the MND on adjusting and supplementing the organisational structure and equipment of PMFs tailored to local maritime conditions and specific operational requirements.

Members of a PMF vessel cooperate with relevant units in repair work (photo: qdnd.vn)

Third, improving the quality of training to meet the requirements of safeguarding sea and island sovereignty. Based on the training content and program set forth by the MND, provincial-level military commands in coastal regions should actively review, supplement, and refine training programs suited to local task requirements and maritime characteristics. Prior to training, thorough preparations, including personnel, training sites, equipment, and training vessels, should be made. In the training process, strict adherence to the motto of “basics, practicality, quality”, 3 viewpoints, 8 principles, and 6 connections is required. Military training should be closely, effectively linked with discipline management, military etiquette training, and mass mobilisation.

For land-based and maritime training, PMFs should develop detailed, appropriate training plans and cooperate with naval units in organising maritime training sessions in accordance with Decision 556/QĐ-TM, dated 30 March 2020, by Chief of the General Staff. This framework allows members of PMFs to develop their commanding, managerial, and operational skills, ensuring they understand their responsibilities and progressively adapt to living conditions and skills required for specialised tasks, particularly in vessel manoeuvring, port entry/exit procedures, and on-board equipment usage.

Regarding fishing gear training, provincial-level military commands should develop plans, coordinate maritime resource surveys, and organise training for crew teams accordingly. Concurrently, PMFs should integrate fishing ground survey, fishing gear training, and fishing activities with maritime situational monitoring. Each training phase may include one or two additional vessels compared to the existing regulations, with durations ranging from 18 to 22 days.

In practice, the training content related to fishing gear operation, long-duration seafaring, survival skills, and resilience against harsh sea conditions remains limited. To overcome this problem, priority should be given to recruiting young fishermen with great hands-on experience in working on fishing vessels. In addition, close cooperation with naval units and vessel owners is necessary to provide supplemental training content for maritime militia. After training, all-level commands, particularly provincial-level military commands, should intensify inspection, evaluation, and review to draw lessons in terms of training management and task execution.

Fourth, well performing support and policy work to ensure PMFs’ effective operations. In recent years, newly-established PMFs have not had permanent bases; their operations at sea have been significantly impacted by harsh weather conditions. Additionally, the existing policies for this force’s maritime operations have not fully matched the particular demands of their tasks. These factors have affected the morale and health of members of this force, thereby influencing its operational effectiveness. Therefore, coastal provincial-level military commands should closely cooperate with Departments of Agriculture and Environment in completing procedures for vessel registration, inspection, and licensing, as well as business registration for fisheries-related services. They should also accelerate procedures for designing and approving projects on constructing barracks and designated anchorage areas for PMFs. In the immediate term, provinces without docking facilities should utilise existing port facilities to moor vessels. Proposals should be developed to allocate dedicated zones to facilitate basing, training, and rapid deployment of PMFs. Additionally, it is essential to ensure the procurement of hull insurance, civil liability insurance, and accident insurance for 100% of members of PMFs, thereby ensuring full legal and operational conditions for vessels to organise sovereignty protection and fishing activities. For each operational task, a specific support plan should be formulated in accordance with established authority levels, with particular attention to fuel, fresh water, and other essential supplies needed for activities at sea and on islands. In parallel, improving the material and mental life of members of PMFs is important to foster their attachment and long-term commitment to this force. Consideration should be given to increasing special-duty allowances, presenting gifts on national holidays, and providing assistance for families of members of PMFs in case of illness or other hardships.

Effectively applying the above solutions and increasing investments in upgrading equipment and support tools appropriate to PMFs’ functions and tasks are of profound practical significance. These efforts will contribute to enhancing PMFs’ operational capacity and enable this force to meet the requirements of protecting the Fatherland’s sea and island sovereignty.

Maj. Gen. QUACH VAN NHO

Deputy Commander of Military Region 9